Iran Nuclear Program Is Back To Pre-JCPOA Situation

IRAN NEWS NATIONAL DESK

Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Chief Ali Akbar Salehi says Iran will soon introduce a set of 30 modern IR-6 centrifuges within the next 2 or 3 weeks as the latest development in its nuclear program.

Salehi added that a new part of the heavy water reactor in Arak in central Iran will become operational within the next two weeks.

The secondary part of Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor will become operational within the next few weeks, he said.

“We will make the secondary part of the Arak heavy water reactor facility operational as early as the next three weeks; the reactor consists of primary and secondary sections whereby an overwhelming part of (nuclear) processes is done in the latter,” Salehi said.

On the latest status of units 2 and 3 of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, Salehi said, “It’s been two years since (the construction of) Bushehr’s reactors 2 and 3 started, and according to plans, the second reactor will become functional in 2025 and the third in 2027.”

Highlighting the technical measures by Tehran to reduce commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, he said “the reduction of obligations would not constitute a violation of the JCPOA from a technical perspective and the possibility of returning to the pre-JCPOA conditions still exists.”

Before the deal was concluded, Iran enriched approximately 2,300 kilograms of enriched uranium every year, but the current figure stands at 1,700-1,800 kilograms per year, Press TV quoted Salehi as saying.

“So we are returning to the conditions that existed before the JCPOA in terms of uranium enrichment capacity,” he explained.

“In the present situation, all (centrifuges) are modern-generation machines. Therefore, (the pace of) our research studies has not been slowed down or come to a halt,” Salehi emphasized.

“Within the next 2-3 weeks, we will unveil a chain of 30 IR6 (modern centrifuges),” he added.

Salehi said in an interview with Iran’s state TV on Tuesday October 8 that Iran’s nuclear program has “returned to pre-JCPOA situation” as it has increased the production of over 3.5 percent enriched uranium to 5 to 6 kilograms a day.

Back in July, Iran declared the second step to reduce its JCPOA commitments by ramping up the level of uranium enrichment to over 3.67 percent.

This comes while Iran is bound by its 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) not to employ more than 30 of this model of centrifuge until 2023.