‘Iran resume uranium enrichment’
- Category
International Relations
- Published
12th Jan, 2021
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In a breach of the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran claims that it has resumed 20 percent uranium enrichment at Fordow site where activity was banned for 15 years.
Context
In a breach of the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran claims that it has resumed 20 percent uranium enrichment at Fordow site where activity was banned for 15 years.
About
- What is Uranium enrichment?
- Uranium found in nature consists largely of two isotopes, U-235 and U-238.
- Enriched uranium is produced by feeding uranium hexafluoride gas into centrifuges to separate out the most suitable isotope for nuclear fission, called U-235.
- Low-enriched uranium, which typically has a 3-5% concentration of U-235, can be used to produce fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.
- Highly enriched uranium has a concentration of 20% or more and is used in research reactors. Weapons-grade uranium is 90% enriched or more.

The deal
- Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran is allowed
- to enrich uranium only up to a 3.67% concentration
- to stockpile no more than 300kg (660lbs) of the material
- to operate no more than 5,060 of its oldest and least efficient centrifuges
- to cease enrichment at the underground Fordo facility
- Another part of the deal instructs Iran not to accumulate more than 130 tonnes of heavy water, which contains more hydrogen than ordinary water, and to redesign its heavy-water nuclear reactor at Arak.
- Spent fuel from a heavy-water reactor contains plutonium, which can be used in a nuclear bomb.
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The concern
- The move is seen as a significant step toward achieving weapons grade levels of uranium.
- The higher levels raise fears that Iran will work toward building a nuclear weapon, which requires 90% enrichment.
- Iran’s move is its latest away from the nuclear deal as it seeks to pressure the other signatories, particularly those in Europe, to deliver on promises of sanctions relief.
- The United States pulled out of the deal in 2018 and instituted economic sanctions, especially targeting Iran’s key oil sector.
