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Expert: Iran Has No Civilian Need for 20 Percent Enriched Uranium

(Asharq al-Awsat-UK) Bijan Farhoodi - Martin Fitzpatrick, director of non-proliferation and disarmament at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said in an interview: "I don't understand why Iran is producing 20% enrichment to begin with. They say it's for fuel for Tehran's research reactor, but the amount of 20% enriched products they've already stockpiled would be enough to fuel the reactor for 20 years, so there is no civilian purpose for it at all. By continuing to produce 20% enriched uranium Iran underscores suspicions that there is a military purpose for this kind of enrichment." Q: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said on Monday that Iran is capable of enriching to 90% within weeks. Fitzpatrick: "This statement is based on a mathematical formula, based on how many centrifuges they have and on the amount of 20% enriched uranium they have already stockpiled....It's easy to do a calculation. And you can determine that within a matter of short weeks Iran would theoretically be able to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon."
2013-11-07 00:00:00
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