Natanz Enrichment Plant

Category: Nuclear

Location: 40km SEof Kashan and 150km north of Isfahan (Esfahan)
Subordinate to: AEOI
Size: 1000 sq km
Primary Function: Uranium enrichment

Description:

The Natanz Enrichment Plant is a large facility holding a pilot plant (PFEP) and commercial enrichment plant (FEP). Both of these use gas centrifuge technology to enrich uranium. Iran's centrifuges use an aluminium rotor with a diameter of approximately 100 millimeters. When inspectors visited the facilities in June, they observed that the centrifuges at PFEP were possibly of "an early European design." Analysts theorize that they are thought to be an improved version of the G2-type aluminium-rotor centrifuge built by Gernot Zippe in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Iran's centrifuges are of a similar design to the centrifuges that Pakistan acquired clandestinely in the mid-1970s from the German company Urenco. According to media reports, Pakistan assisted Iran with the design of their uranium centrifuges. According to Western officials, Iran's centrifuges have a separative capacity of two separative work units (SW) per year. Another theory may be that the Chinese passed on technical information about Russian centrifuges to the Iranians. These centrifuges may ultimately have the same origins as the early German machines, since the Russians used German technicians to develop their centrifuges in the 1950s. Questions remain as to how the Iranians tested their centrifuges.

In a report to the IAEA, the authorities stated that, beginning in 1997, Iran conducted extensive modelling and simulations at the Amir Khabir University and the AEOI in Tehran, without the existence of any uranium material. However, the IAEA and the international community are skeptical of this claim.

The Natanz facility is believed to be the third stage in the three stages of Iran's centrifuge enrichment program. The program is believed to have begun in 1985 on the AEOI's premises in Tehran, before moving to the second stage at the Kalaye Electric Company, also in Tehran, in 1997. In 2002, assembly activities were moved to Natanz.

The Natanz Enrichment Plant comprises at least three main areas: an above-ground area, three large underground structures, and one large building standing alone. The above-ground area consists of six large buildings. Two of these are twin 2,500 meter halls. The function of the above-ground buildings is to assemble gas centrifuges. The underground structures are primarily centrifuge halls. The first two buildings each measure 190 meters by 170 meters, with a surface area of approximately 32,000 square meters. The third structure is smaller, with a gross ground area of approximately 7,700 square meters. It is intended to provide support and administrative services to the two larger structures.