Iran said to install uranium centrifuges (behind schedule) (AP)

[Eugene]

Posted on Mon, Jan. 15, 2007

Iran said to install uranium centrifuges
ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran said Monday it is installing 3,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium
at one of its nuclear facilities, effectively confirming that its nuclear program is
running behind schedule as the devices were to have been in place two weeks ago.

Over the weekend, Iran dismissed reports from Europe that its uranium enrichment
program had been stalled. Enriched uranium is used as fuel in nuclear reactors and,
at a higher degree of enrichment, can also be used to make atomic bombs.

But Iran had said the installation of the 3,000 centrifuges at its facility in Natanz,
located in central Iran, would be completed by the end of 2006. Its failure to do so
has prompted reports that it is encountering technical difficulties in mastering large-
scale enrichment.

Diplomats in Vienna - where the International Atomic Energy Agency is based - said
Thursday that the enrichment program in Natanz had ground to a halt.

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Full article: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/16466074.htm