Iran wants 60 000 centrifuges
2006-11-14 22:03
Tehran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday Iran aimed to install 60 000 of the centrifuges used to enrich uranium.
This is despite Western accusations that Tehran
wants to use the process to build atomic bombs.
Iran, which says it wants to enrich uranium only for
peaceful purposes, had said previously it wanted an
"industrial-scale" enrichment operation with 54 000 centrifuges.
Iran so far runs two chains of 164 centrifuges - known as
cascades - which can make fuel for use in nuclear power plants or
material for warheads.
On their own these cascades would take years to produce
enough material for a bomb. Iran says the next step is to
install 3 000 centrifuges.
"We want to produce nuclear fuel and we have to install
60 000 centrifuges, but still we are at the first stages,"
Ahmadinejad told a news conference shown live on state
television.
Iran has ignored United Nations demands to halt its
enrichment work and could face sanctions.
The United States and European states are leading efforts to
impose sanctions but Russia and China, both veto wielding
members of the UN security council, have voiced misgivings.
Ahmadinejad said Iran would press ahead with its atomic
plans, saying it had mastered the nuclear fuel cycle.
Iran has
enriched small quantities of uranium to levels used in power
plants, but not the highly enriched levels needed for bombs.
- Reuters