Iran’s Natanz Nuclear Facility Suffers Growing Pains
James Phillips /
Despite Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s gloating that Iran is a “nuclear state”, Iran reportedly has encountered problems in expanding its uranium enrichment program at an ambitious rate. According to an article in today’s Washington Post, the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz has experienced declining output levels due to possible technical problems with the centrifuges used to process the uranium. So many centrifuges at Natanz have broken down or been sidelined for unknown reasons that less than half of the 8,700 centrifuges were working in November – a little more than 3,900 machines, down from 5,000 last May.
Experts have speculated that the problems at Natanz may be caused by the use of old centrifuges, poor maintenance practices, and a rush to expand the numbers of centrifuges installed without fully testing them. (more…)