The International Atomic Energy Agency has reported they have detected uranium at Iran’s nuclear facilities that have been enriched to 84% purity.

The UN nuclear watchdog reported this troubling news earlier this week, revealing that Iran is “very close” to weapons grade.

Two diplomats told Reuters the International Atomic Energy Agency, which inspects Iran’s nuclear facilities, had detected uranium enriched to 84%, confirming an initial report late on Sunday by Bloomberg News.

“The issue is whether it was a blip in the reconfigured cascades or deliberate. The agency has asked Iran for an explanation,” one of the diplomats told Reuters.

Iranian officials have responded to the news claiming that it is just a “conspiracy theory”.

However, there is clear evidence that Iran has long sought nuclear weapons and has already enriched uranium far above the amount needed for civilian energy needs.

CUFI’s Action Fund in Washington said this news is “troubling”:

“The magic number when enriching Uranium to weapons-grade levels is 90%. Once Uranium is enriched to that level, it is considered fissile. Basically, it’s at that point that you can use the material in a nuclear bomb. In recent days, the International Atomic Energy Agency has disclosed that Iran has enriched Uranium to 84%.

“We now live in a world where the Iranians are on the cusp of possessing a nuclear weapons capability. And while there is, at least in theory, a military solution to Iran’s ability to produce the bomb, one cannot destroy knowledge. Once it is acquired, it is there to stay. The US must coordinate with our European and Middle Eastern allies to launch a firm and united diplomatic and economic response to this latest highly troubling development.”

Expert reveals Iran could be close to making a bomb

Israeli nuclear physicist Dr Naama Charit Yaari said explained that the purity of 84% is troubling as this means they have a high enough purity to make a bomb. While modern nuclear weapons need uranium of around 93-94%, it should be noted that the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan during World War II was made with uranium of 80% purity.

“If the report by the IAEC about finding in Iran uranium enriched to the level of 84% is indeed accurate, then in theory, the Ayatollah regime already has nuclear fuel suitable for making a bomb. It will be less effective than a quality bomb, but certainly possible,” said Dr Yaari.

“To use the enormous energy stored in the nucleus of the atom, uranium 235 – an atom with 92 protons and 143 neutrons in its nucleus must be split. Most of the uranium in nature is uranium 238 (with 146 neutrons) which does not fission, so you need to separate the two types, which are very similar to each other in most respects. The most common method is through an array of thousands of centrifuges, which makes it possible to take advantage of the tiny physical differences between them to enrich the uranium – that is, to increase the concentration of the uranium that has broken down in the ore. In this process, many tons of natural uranium come to single grams of enriched uranium. Effective nuclear bombs require a very high enrichment of uranium, much more than nuclear fuel for power reactors of 93% to 94%,” she explained.

“The new finding teaches two important things. First, it seems that Iran is getting closer to the optimal level of enrichment for a nuclear fission bomb and is less than ten percent short of reaching the goal. Second, a nuclear reactor to generate electricity does not require 84% enrichment, but much less than that. However, apparently it is possible that, as the Iranians claim, they produced a very small amount of over-enriched uranium, at the level of residues only, and such a situation should not be of concern. What will indicate if this is the case is the quantity.”

The Israeli nuclear physicist added that “Iran’s economy is in a terrible state, and its citizens are angry, but it’s a shady regime. Even North Korea looks enlightened in comparison. I don’t know how the IEAC will go about inspecting, because the Iranians hide their nuclear centrifuges underground. I myself know better today than 20 years ago what to look for. They have tens of thousands of centrifuges. If the employees there work according to Western standards, it is not dangerous to their health. It’s hard to assess if they are using leftovers or they have deliberately enriched their uranium. It’s hard to believe that they reached 84% by mistake since the process is so complicated,” added Yaari. “For all that work, they get just a few grams of nuclear fuel.”