Prometheus 6   

Iran Has Made Plutonium, U.N. Reports
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 � The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday that it found no evidence that Iran was producing nuclear weapons, but that inspections and documents turned over by the country found a clear pattern of years of experimentation in producing small amounts of materials that could be fabricated into weapons, including plutonium.

The findings by the United Nations' nuclear agency falls short of backing up the Bush administration's claims that Iran is using its civilian nuclear program as a cover for its nuclear weapons program. But the I.A.E.A. concluded in the report that "given Iran's past pattern of concealment, it will take some time before the agency is able to conclude that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes."

Iran Cleared by U.N. of Atomic Ambitions
By GEORGE JAHN Associated Press Writer

November 11, 2003, 2:28 AM CST

VIENNA, Austria -- A confidential U.N. nuclear agency report criticized Iran for a "pattern of concealment" about its nuclear program but said no evidence has been found to back U.S. claims it tried to make atomic bombs, according to diplomats.

The report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency also found that Iran had produced small amounts of enriched uranium and plutonium, the Washington Post reported.

Meanwhile, Iran announced in Moscow that it has suspended its enrichment of uranium and agreed to additional U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities.

The report's catalogue of Iran's nuclear activities shows that the Islamic republic had made significant strides in a program that until last year was barely understood by the outside world. The report, obtained by The Washington Post, documents numerous occasions when Iranian officials altered or reversed their explanations after being challenged by investigators or with conflicting evidence.

"Iran has now acknowledged that it has been developing, for 18 years, a uranium centrifuge program, and, for 12 years, a laser enrichment program," the report says, referring to two of the leading technologies for making fissile material for nuclear power plants or weapons. "In that context Iran has admitted that it produced small amounts of LEU [low-enriched uranium], using both centrifuge and laser enrichment processes…and a small amount of plutonium."

The report says that Iran made the plutonium between 1988 and 1992 at the Tehran Nuclear Research Center, a laboratory in the capital. Iran said the plutonium was produced during experiments intended to "gain experience in reprocessing chemistry," the IAEA report says. The equipment used in the experiment was dismantled in 1992.

While the amount of plutonium produced was likely minuscule -- far less than needed for a nuclear weapon -- Iran had previously denied conducting any such experiments.