TEHRAN: Iran's enrichment of uranium in large quantities is the priority concern of world powers worried about the Islamic republic's nuclear programme, and the top issue at talks under way in Moscow.
According to the latest International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report, issued in May, Iran has declared enrichment to 3.5 percent and 20 percent purity at two facilities:
NATANZ, central Iran:
Iran enriches uranium here to 3.5 percent and to 20 percent purity, using more than 9,000 IR-1 (first generation) centrifuges.
Monthly output of 3.5 percent-enriched uranium is some 230 kilos, using 8,818 of the centrifuges, and some 6.2 tonnes of uranium to this level have been produced since enrichment operations started in 2007.
The other 348 centrifuges at Natanz are used to further process some of that 3.5 percent stock into 20 percent-enriched uranium.
Another 6,000 centrifuges are planned to be added to the facility, which is designed to host up to 50,000 centrifuges.
FORDO, near Qom in central Iran:
Iran has 696 IR-1 centrifuges at this fortified bunker facility, whose discovery in 2009 triggered alarm among world powers. The site, dug under a mountain to be protected from air strikes, is used to produce 20 percent-enriched uranium.
There are another 348 centrifuges already installed at the site, but they are not in service. The facility can host up to 3,000 centrifuges.
Iran has produced 146 kilos of 20 percent-enriched uranium at Natanz and Fordo since February 2011, and currently makes another 12.25 kilos every month.
According to the IAEA's May report, Iran has a remaining stock of 5.7 tonnes of 3.5 percent-enriched uranium, having processed the other 500 kilos into the 20 percent-enriched uranium.
Of the 146 kilos of 20 percent-enriched uranium, a third has been converted into fuel plates for the Tehran research reactor, rendering it unsuitable for further enrichment. The remaining 101 kilos of 20 percent-enriched uranium are being stored.
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