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Iran resumes uranium enrichment at Fordow plant
Why is it news?
- Iran resumed uranium enrichment at its underground Fordow plant south of Tehran on Thursday in a new step back from its commitments under a landmark 2015 nuclear deal, raising alarm from Western powers.
More in news
- Engineers began feeding uranium hexafluoride gas into the plant’s mothballed enrichment centrifuges in “the first minutes of Thursday”, the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation said.
- Uranium Enrichment
(1) Uranium enrichment is the sensitive process that produces fuel for nuclear power plants but also, in highly extended form, the fissile core for a warhead.
(2) Iran is now enriching uranium to 4.5%, exceeding the 3.67% limit set by the 2015 deal but less than the 20% level it hadpreviously operated to and far less than the 90% level required for a warhead.
(3) Iran has always denied any military dimension to its nuclear programme.
- Iran Nuclear Deal
(1) Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) popularly known as Iran nuclear deal is nuclear programme agreement signed in 2015 with the US, UK, Russia, China, France and Germany.
(2) Under this deal Iran agreed to significantly cut its stores of centrifuges, enriched uranium and heavy-water, all key components for nuclear weapons
(3) The JCPOA established the Joint Commission, with the negotiating parties all represented, to monitor implementation of the agreement.
Source
The Hindu