NUCLEAR PROGRAM Plans for uranium are not new, Iran says



A U.N. watchdog agency reported Iran plans to process uranium.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran acknowledged Thursday that it plans to process tons of raw uranium, but said the U.N. nuclear watchdog was informed long ago and accused Washington of sensationalizing the matter.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press that Iran plans to process more than 40 tons of uranium into uranium hexafluoride gas. Experts said the amount was enough for four or five warheads.
The U.N. report did not specify what plans Iran had for the material, which is spun in centrifuges to produce enriched uranium.
This can then be used to generate electricity or make nuclear warheads, depending on the degree of enrichment.
Ali Akbar Salehi, a senior adviser to Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, said Thursday that Iran's plans were not a secret. "This is the information Iran provided to the IAEA a long time ago," he told the AP.
U.S. response
In response to what he called Iran's concerted effort to make nuclear weapons, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday that Washington would urge the U.N. nuclear agency at its board meeting this month to refer the Iranian case to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.
Iran denies the allegation and insists its nuclear program is geared only toward producing electricity, not a nuclear bomb.
Salehi, Iran's former envoy to the Vienna, Austria-based IAEA, said Iran's uranium conversion facility in Isfahan, in central Iran, has a capacity of converting more than 300 tons of uranium ore into hexafluoride gas annually.
"The agency knew the capacity of the facility before it was built. The facility is under IAEA safeguards," he said.

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