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           Diplomats: Iran Acts to Expand Sensitive Nuclear Capacity

   by Reuters

   A U.N. nuclear agency report due this week is expected to show Iran
   further increasing its capacity to produce material that its
   adversaries fear could eventually be used to develop atomic bombs,
   Western diplomats said on Tuesday.
   But they said it also is likely to indicate that growth in Iran's most
   sensitive nuclear stockpile has been held back because some of it has
   been used for reactor fuel, potentially providing more time for
   diplomacy between Iran and major powers.
   Tehran's holding of medium-enriched uranium gas is closely watched in
   the West as Israel, which has threatened air strikes if diplomacy and
   sanctions do not stop Iran's atomic drive, says Iran must not amass
   enough for one bomb if further processed.
   Critics say Iran is trying to achieve the capability to make atomic
   arms. Iran denies this, saying it needs nuclear power for energy
   generation and medical purposes and that it is Israel's reputed nuclear
   arsenal that threatens regional peace.
   The next quarterly report on Iran's nuclear program by the U.N.
   International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA], expected on Wednesday, is
   likely to show continued installation of the centrifuges used for
   enriching uranium, diplomats said.
   That would include an advanced model known as IR-2m, which once
   operational, would enable Iran to sharply speed up its accumulation of
   refined uranium that can have both civilian and military purposes.
   The number of IR-2m centrifuges and empty centrifuge casings that have
   been put in place at Iran's main enrichment site near the town of
   Natanz is expected to have risen significantly since February, when it
   stood at 180, they said.
   Iran has for years been trying to develop centrifuges more efficient
   than the erratic 1970s-vintage IR-1 machines it now uses, but
   introducing new models has been dogged by technical hurdles and
   difficulty in obtaining key parts abroad.
   "We expect that they've continued to install more advanced centrifuges
   at Natanz," said one diplomat.
   Another Western envoy said Iran also was believed to be pressing ahead
   in the construction of a research reactor, which  experts say could
   offer it a second way of producing material for a nuclear bomb, if it
   decided to embark on such a course.
   Nuclear analysts say the type of reactor that Iran is building near the
   town of Arak could yield plutonium for nuclear arms if the spent fuel
   is reprocessed, something Iran has said it has no intention of doing.
   Nuclear stockpile
   Diplomats also will scrutinize the IAEA report for what it has to say
   about Iran's possession of medium-enriched uranium as this represents a
   technical threshold relatively close to the level required for nuclear
   bombs.
   Since Iran in 2010 began processing uranium to a fissile concentration
   of 20 percent, it has produced more than the 240-250 kg that would be
   needed for one bomb, if refined more.
   But while the stockpile has expanded, Iran still has kept it below
   Israel's stated "red line" by converting a large part of the uranium
   gas into oxide powder in order, Tehran says, to yield fuel for a
   medical research reactor in the capital.
   As a result, the increase in the holding of 20 percent gas has been
   less than the production. In February, the stockpile was 167 kg, a rise
   of roughly 18-19 kg since the previous report in December, but a
   significant slowdown from a 50-percent jump in the previous three-month
   period.
   "It seems that they are converting nearly all the material that they
   are producing," said a Western official.
   But while the uranium conversion activity may postpone any decision by
   Israel on whether to strike Iranian nuclear sites, Western diplomats
   made clear Tehran must do much more in order to allay suspicions about
   its atomic program.
   Turning uranium gas into oxide powder in order to make fuel plates also
   may be just a temporary positive development because the process is
   possible to reverse, Western experts say.
   The six world powers involved in diplomacy with Iran - the United
   States, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and China - want it to stop
   refining uranium to 20 percent and suspend work at the underground
   Fordow site where most of this work is pursued.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/diplomats-say-iran-acts-to-expand-sen
   sitive-nuclear-capacity/1665352.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/diplomats-say-iran-acts-to-expand-sensitive-nuclear-capacity/1665352.html