Is Iran's Nuclear Program Under Fire?

Explosions have been reported in the past few minutes, roughly 21:00 18APR2024 EST near the cities of Ispahan and Natanz in the center of Iran.

4/19/20242 min read

This is a breaking story which will be updated or corrected as information is released.

Explosions have been reported in the past few minutes, roughly 21:00 18APR2024 EST near the cities of Isfahan and Natanz in the center of Iran. These areas contain important facilities for Iran’s nuclear program. Information on the reported nuclear sites has been pulled from Wikipedia and provided below.

Natanz is a hardened Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) covering 100,000 square meters that is built 8 meters underground and protected by a concrete wall 2.5 meters thick, itself protected by another concrete wall. It is located near Natanz, the capital city of Natanz County, Isfahan Province, Iran. In 2004, the roof was hardened with reinforced concrete and covered with 22 meters of earth. The complex consists of two 25,000 square meter halls and a number of administrative buildings. This once secret site was one of the two exposed by Alireza Jafarzadeh in August, 2002. IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei visited the site on 21 February 2003 and reported that 160 centrifuges were complete and ready for operation, with 1,000 more under construction at the site.[46] In accordance with Code 3.1 of the Subsidiary Arrangements to Iran's safeguards agreement that were in force up to that time, Iran was not obligated to declare the Natanz enrichment facility until six months before nuclear material was introduced into the facility.[47] According to the IAEA, in 2009 there were approximately 7,000 centrifuges installed at Natanz, of which 5,000 were producing low enriched uranium.[48]In July 2020, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran released photos of a building, presumed to be a centrifuge assembly facility, after a recent explosion. An unnamed Middle Eastern intelligence official later claimed that damage to the facility was caused by an explosive device.[49]On 28 October 2020, the Center for Nonproliferation Studies released satellite images acknowledging that Iran had begun the construction of an underground plant near its nuclear facility at Natanz.[50] In March 2021, Iran restarted enriching uranium at the Natanz facility with a third set of advanced nuclear centrifuges in a series of violations of the 2015 nuclear accord.[51] On 10 April, Iran began injecting uranium hexafluoride gas into advanced IR-6 and IR- 5 centrifuges at Natanz, but on the next day, an accident occurred in the electricity distribution network.[52] On 11 April, IRNA reported that the incident was due to a power failure and that there were no injuries nor any escape of radioactive material.[53] Further details eventually emerged that it was actually Israel that orchestrated the attack.[54] On 17 April, Iranian state television named 43-year-old Reza Karimi from Kashan as a suspect for the blackout, stating that he had fled the country before the sabotage happened.[55][56] In July 2021, Iran reportedly limited inspectors' access to the plant.[57]

The Nuclear Technology Center of Isfahan is a nuclear research facility that currently operates a Miniature Neutron Source Reactor supplied by China. It is run by the AEOI.[32]The Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) at Isfahan converts yellowcake into uranium hexafluoride. As of late October 2004, the site is 70% operational with 21 of 24 workshops completed. There is also a Zirconium Production Plant (ZPP) located nearby that produces the necessary ingredients and alloys for nuclear reactors. There is also a Fuel Plate Fabrication Plant (FPFP) at Isfahan.As of 2022 another new nuclear construction development was built in suburban Isfahan .[33][34][35][36]