Iran appears to be struggling to replace a dwindling 1970s-era supply of unrefined uranium to fuel its disputed nuclear efforts, the London Times reported Saturday (see GSN, Jan. 23).
(Jan. 26) -
Iranian technicians handle a container of yellowcake in 2005 (Behrouz Mehri/Getty Images).
Tehran has launched a drive to mine its own uranium reserves, but it lacks a sufficient quantity of the material necessary to continuously supply its enrichment program, according to the Times. The enrichment process could generate a key nuclear-weapon ingredient, but Tehran has said it only wants to produce nuclear power plant fuel.
In response to the alleged shortfall, six Western countries -- Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States -- have begun urging major uranium exporters not to do business to Iran. Late last year, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office secretly asked its envoy to press Brazil, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to bar exports of yellowcake uranium and other uranium items to Iran.
Kazakhstan possesses 15 percent of the world's known uranium reserves and Uzbekistan also holds a significant supply, but Iran has reportedly not requested uranium from either of the nations. The Democratic Republic of Congo is another potential uranium source.
Tehran is now on the cusp of acquiring enough uranium to power a nuclear weapon if it enriched the material further, many experts believe.
Iran converted roughly 70 percent of its yellowcake uranium to gaseous uranium hexafluoride, an intermediate step in the enrichment process, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency report published last May (see GSN, May 27). Iran possesses enough uranium hexafluoride for up to 35 bombs, but it could use up its stocks of yellowcake uranium by the end of 2009, said David Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security.
Tehran would require much more yellowcake than it now possesses to fuel a civilian nuclear power program, casting doubt on claims that its initiative is a strictly civilian effort, analysts said.
“You need 200 [metric] tons per year just for one 1,000-megawatt power station,” one IAEA source said.
One Iranian site only generated 21 metric tons of uranium over a year, the agency believes, while a new facility set to open in 2009 is projected to produce 50 metric tons per year. Despite its limited uranium supply, Tehran has said it intends to construct more than 20 nuclear power reactors.
Major world powers have offered Iran civilian nuclear fuel rods and assemblies since 2006 in exchange for halting its uranium enrichment program, but Tehran has endured much greater expenses to press forward with its enrichment program (London Times, Jan. 24).
Meanwhile, diplomats for the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany were set to meet today in London to discuss the Iranian nuclear dispute, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The outcome of the talks could indicate how new U.S. President Barack Obama intends to approach Iran, former top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said (Xinhua News Agency, Jan. 25).