Checking Iran’s enriched uranium stock is ‘long overdue’, IAEA report says

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By Francois Murphy

VIENNA (Reuters) -Iran still has not let inspectors into the nuclear sites Israel and the United States bombed in June, the U.N. atomic watchdog said in a confidential report on Wednesday, adding that accounting for Iran’s enriched uranium stock is “long overdue”.

The IAEA’s own guidelines say it should verify a country’s stock of highly enriched uranium, such as the material enriched to up to 60% purity in Iran, a short step from the roughly 90% of weapons grade, every month.

The IAEA has been calling on Iran for months to say what happened to the stock and let inspections fully resume quickly. The two sides announced an agreement in Cairo in September that was supposed to pave the way towards that but progress has been limited, and Iran now says the agreement is void.

“The Agency’s lack of access to this nuclear material in Iran for five months means that its verification … is long overdue,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in the report to member states seen by Reuters.

CONCERNS ABOUT DIVERSION, INSPECTIONS CRITICAL

“It is critical that the Agency is able to verify the inventories of previously declared nuclear material in Iran as soon as possible in order to allay its concerns … regarding the possible diversion of declared nuclear material from peaceful use,” it added.

The report said the quantity of highly enriched uranium Iran has produced and stored is “a matter of serious concern”. The IAEA has now lost so-called continuity of knowledge of Iran’s enriched uranium stocks, it added, meaning re-establishing a full picture will be arduous.

The agency has so far only inspected some of the 13 nuclear facilities that were “unaffected” by the attacks and none of the seven that were, it said.

ENOUGH FOR 10 NUCLEAR BOMBS

One reason Israel and the United States gave for their attacks, which destroyed one of Iran’s three enrichment facilities operating at the time and at least badly damaged the others, was that Iran was getting too close to being able to produce a nuclear weapon.

Western powers say there is no civil explanation for Iran’s enrichment to such a high level. Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful, and the IAEA said it had no credible indication of a coordinated weapons programme there.

The IAEA estimates that before the attacks Iran had 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60% in uranium hexafluoride form, which can easily be enriched further. That is enough, if enriched further, for 10 nuclear bombs, according to an IAEA yardstick.

As a party to the NPT, Iran must send a detailed report to the IAEA on the status of the bombed facilities and its enriched uranium “without delay” but still has not done so, the report said. Only then can the IAEA inspect them.

NEW ENRICHMENT PLANT – STATUS UNKNOWN

While some enriched uranium will have been destroyed in the attacks, diplomats say much of the stock was likely stored at a deeply buried facility at Isfahan where the entrance tunnels were hit but damage appears limited.

Iran informed the IAEA shortly before the attacks it was setting up an enrichment facility at Isfahan but the agency has not been able to inspect it.

“The Agency does not know the precise location of (the plant), its status for safeguards purposes, including whether it contains nuclear material, or whether it was affected by the military attacks,” the report said.

While there is little sign of progress towards a nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran, both sides say they are open to the idea.

(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Sharon Singleton, William Maclean)