Agence France Presse, Paris – Iran has assembled and is testing 15 so-called P2 centrifuges which can speed up uranium enrichment, the process which makes nuclear fuel or atom bomb material, an Iranian opposition group said Thursday.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran said it had also located what it called a secret production site for the equipment near Tehran.
The claim, made at a press conference in Paris, came as Iran seemed headed for a showdown at the UN Security Council next week over its nuclear programme and facing the threat of sanctions for failing to freeze enrichment.
Having P2 centrifuges — more sophisticated than P1 versions — would give Iran an increased capability to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel or atom bomb material.
Europe and the United States fear that Tehran is using a drive for civilian energy as a cover for developing atomic weapons.
"According to information obtained… at least 15 P2 centrifuges have been assembled so far and are being tested," said the NCRI’s Mohammad Mohadessin.
"A secret project to make P1 and P2 centrifuges was launched about two years ago under the pseudonym Shams," he added.
He said the "secret" production site with three hangars was on a side road three kilometres (two miles) from a junction in the Pars district of eastern Tehran on the main road toward Damavand.
Mohadessin said Tehran was "working day and night to be able to produce 14 kilograms of plutonium annually starting from next year for nuclear bombs."
On Wednesday, an Iranian news agency reported that Iran would soon announce a breakthrough that would "highlight its mastery of different areas in nuclear science and reinforce Iran’s position as a nuclear country."
The UN Security Council last month adopted a resolution giving Iran until August 31 to freeze its uranium enrichment programme or face sanctions.
Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said earlier this week that the Islamic regime was ready for "serious talks" to ease the long-running standoff with the international community over its nuclear programme.
However, no details have been made public of Iran’s answer to a package of trade, technology and security incentives that was offered last month by the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy (IAEA), is to report back to the Security Council on Tehran’s compliance with the demand to freeze enrichment.
