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Russia Sells Iran System for Uranium Enrichment
DEBKAfile, EFLThe Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency â IAEA â put out a disturbing report this week confirming earlier DEBKAfile revelations that traces of uranium enrichment activity were found in samples at Natanz nuclear facility in Iran, 290 km south of Tehran, evidence that Iran was in the process of building a nuclear arsenal. DEBKA did report that first, I canât find the date. Agency officials admit that Tehran is in clear non-compliance with its nuclear safeguard obligations and may even have laid itself open to a complaint to the UN Security Council and the threat of sanctions. In issue Number 120, published on August 8, DEBKA-Net-Weeklyâs military sources reported exclusively that in the second week of July Russia secretly delivered the components of the AVLIS (atomic vapor laser isotope separator) system aboard unmarked military transports. This accelerated and environmentally clean process of uranium enrichment was first developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California, for the US Department of Energy in the 1970s. In 1998, the Iranians were reported working on their own AVLIS. The version supplied by Russian is apparently based on more advanced technology. The Russian components came with Russian technicians for assembling the apparatus and teaching Iranian nuclear technicians how to use it. The Iranians have the hard currency to buy the best. According to the information obtained by DEBKA-Net-Weekly , AVLIS has been installed at two of Iranâs uranium enrichment facilities, Natanz and Moallen Kalayeh. The latter is Iranâs most secluded subterranean nuclear plant, buried under the Albroz Mountains 40 km north of Tehran. In its tall tunnels, Iran carries out its most secret tests. Deep underground, Iâll wager. They saw what Israel did to the Iraqi reactor complex. Moallen Kalayeh used to be a small rural village. Today it is a closed township populated by hundreds of scientists and technicians. It is also one of the most heavily protected places in the country. Russian model, or early Los Alamos The Iranians are putting the new equipment to work at top speed at the peak of their effort to build up a stock of enriched uranium sufficient for a nuclear device before September 8, when the Nuclear Atomic Energy Agencyâs board convenes in Vienna to discuss the Iran report. Why worry, the NAEA isnât going to do anything other than issue a stern letter of concern. Tehran has also been racing against the clock to forestall decisions at the six-nation talks on North Koreaâs nuclear program that began in Beijing August 27, before they impede Iranâs related progress towards a nuclear weapon. Attending the talks are the US, the two Koreas, Japan, Russia and China, the host. Hummm, there have been reports of flights between Pakistan and North Korea. Wonder if there have been any from Iran? According to our Moscow sources, Russian military circles as certain that without that AVLIS would not have been consigned to Iran without the okay of President Vladimir Putin. He would have seen the delivery as a means of getting round his promise to President George W. Bush not to send Iran spent nuclear rods to fuel the Bushehr nuclear reactor and a way of compensating Iran for this letdown. Interesting Posted by: Steve 2003-08-28 |
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