Iran significantly slows down expansion of nuclear facilities: IAEA

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Iran significantly slows down expansion of nuclear facilities: IAEA

(Xinhua) 08:05, November 15, 2013

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VIENNA, Nov. 14 -- Iran has significantly slowed down the expansion of its uranium enrichment capacity in the past three months, a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) showed on Thursday.

The quarterly report by the IAEA shows that Tehran suspended the expansion of the nuclear programme by halting installation of advanced centrifuges, which could sharply increase the capacity of uranium enrichment, a main concern of the west that Tehran is headed to make a nuclear bomb by producing large amount of uranium.

The UN nuclear agency and Iran made an agreement in Tehran to promote the cooperation and inspection to resolve the outstanding issues in Iran's nuclear programme.

Iran also halted the IR-40 Reactor's major components installation, according to the report, the IR-40 Reactor, a heavy water reactor, which could produce plutonium to make a nuclear warhead, is also western states concern.

"No additional major components have been installed at IR-40 reactor." The report noted.

Iran's stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium had risen by about five percent to 196 kg since previous report in August.

Experts said the red line for making a nuclear bomb is about 240 kg of 20 percent enriched uranium, which Iran had not broken.

Negotiations between Iran and six states - the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China - are scheduled to resume next week, while the talk between Iran and IAEA will start in next month, the two diplomatic tracks tries to resolve the complicated issue, but until now, no comprehensive agreement has been made.

The western states have long suspected Iran is developing nuclear weapons under cover of its civilian atomic plan, which Tehran denies.

（Editor：LiangJun、Yao Chun）