Western diplomats and private-sector analysts strongly doubt Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim today that his country is producing nuclear fuel on an industrial scale, and believe his announcement saying as much was designed purely for domestic political reasons, sources tell FOX News.
Foreign and domestic sources tell Fox News that Iran has installed at most 1,320 centrifuges, probably fewer, and the country has not yet even mastered the enrichment process with its first "cascade" of centrifuges — its first set of 164 centrifuges. One source repeated a widely reported fact that Iran has installed two above-ground pilot cascades of 328 centrifuges. The source added that Iran has built another six or seven cascades below ground, which could be an additional 1,148 centrifuges.
But the hardest part of mastering the nuclear fuel process — for peaceful purposes or otherwise — is getting first cascade to work properly, and for months at a time. With a functioning cascade, it is easier to replicate the process. Sources tell Fox News Iran's pilot cascade operates "haphazardly," and mostly "dry" or "on vacuum" — without the introduction of the uranium gas. Sources say that by building multiple cascades without necessarily building one that has succeeded in the enrichment process is how the country can make announcements like today's that might have a strong domestic political effect but do not mean the program is moving along as fast as it might seem. |