Natanz nuclear facility

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Air defense position at the Natanz nuclear facility

The Natanz nuclear facility is an Iranian nuclear facility for the enrichment of uranium . It is at Natanz . The plant was discovered in 2002, when the IAEA that Iran's nuclear program examined.

In October 2006 a second cascade of 168 gas centrifuges was put into operation. According to the IAEA, more than 5,000 centrifuges are currently operational and the system is designed for around 54,000 centrifuges.

On January 7, 2007, the Sunday Times reported that the Israeli Air Force had begun training with tactical nuclear bombs to destroy Iran's underground nuclear facilities, such as the one at Natanz . The report was immediately denied by the Israeli government .

On February 20, 2007, BBC News reported that the US contingency plan provides for bomb attacks to be dropped by B-2 stealth bombers in order to destroy the 25 m underground halls with the centrifuges.

On April 9, 2007, the then President Mahmud Ahmadineschād announced on the Natanz plant that Iran was now in a position to enrich uranium on an industrial scale.

In the spring of 2009, the number of enrichment centrifuges actually in operation decreased abruptly. The cause of this is suspected to be an attack with the Stuxnet computer virus on the Natanz facility.

Another such facility is the Fordo nuclear facility .

Incidents

2020

According to official Iranian information, the plant was severely damaged by fire at the beginning of July 2020. The centrifuge production was affected. Because of two further industrial accidents on July 4th in important Iranian factories, observers speculated about possible attacks or coordinated acts of sabotage against the facilities. At the end of August 2020, a spokesman for the Iranian nuclear energy organization told the state television broadcaster al-Alam that the fire was the result of a sabotage operation.

2021

No more than 24 hours after new centrifuges, which are supposed to increase the uranium enrichment level to 60 percent, were put into operation in April 2021, there was an incident in the power distribution network of the plant. The head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency, Ali-Akbar Salehi , said it was an "anti-nuclear terrorism" issue. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on a cyber attack by the Israeli secret service Mossad .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant provisions of Security Council Resolutions 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007) and 1803 (2008) in the Islamic Republic of Iran, September 15, 2008 (PDF; 63 kB)
  2. ↑ The Sunday Times : Revealed: Israel plans nuclear strike on Iran (English, paid)
  3. ↑ Haaretz : haaretz.com ( Memento from January 3, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) (English)
  4. ↑ BBC News : US 'Iran attack plans' revealed , February 20, 2007 (English)
  5. ↑ FAZ.net , September 22, 2010, The digital first strike has taken place
  6. ↑ Michael Safi and Rosie Scammell in "Iran admits incident at Natanz nuclear site caused major damage" The Guardian of July 5, 2020
  7. ↑ Iran official says sabotage caused fire at Natanz nuclear site - TV. Reuters , August 23, 2020, accessed on August 23, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Nuclear deal: Iran begins enriching uranium in modern centrifuges. In: Der Spiegel . April 10, 2021, accessed April 12, 2021 .
  9. ↑ Natans: Iran reports incident at nuclear facility. In: Der Spiegel. April 11, 2021, accessed April 11, 2021 .
  10. ↑ Natans: Iran describes the incident at the nuclear facility as an "act of terrorism". In: Der Spiegel. April 11, 2021, accessed April 12, 2021 .

Web links

Coordinates: 33 ° 43 ′ 29 ″  N , 51 ° 43 ′ 29 ″  E