VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran has installed a first cascade of advanced centrifuges in the underground Natanz uranium enrichment plant that its deal with major powers says can only be used for first-generation IR-1 machines, a report by the U.N. atomic watchdog said.
Iran had previously informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it would transfer three cascades of the uranium-enriching machines from an above-ground pilot plant at the Natanz nuclear site to the underground one after an above-ground centrifuge workshop burned down in an apparent act of sabotage.
Iran has installed and connected the cascade of IR-2m centrifuges but has not fed the cascade with uranium hexafluoride gas, the feedstock for centrifuges, the confidential IAEA report, obtained by Reuters, said on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
