Tehran, YJC. Iran’s nuclear chief says the country will need 190 SWUs enriched uranium to feed its Tehran, Bushehr, and Arak facilities.
Ali Akbar Salehi on Tuesday stated that Iran will need 190
thousand Separative Work Units of uranium enrichment to be able to follow its
nuclear program, adding "This means that the country needs to be able to
produce the annual fuel for the three reactors of Tehran, Bushehr, and Arak
heavy water.”
Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization added "Research
shows that 190 thousand SWUs is our real need, the most basic need, in an
8-year outlook.”
"In fact it would not be an exact statement to emphasize the
number of the centrifuges, because as we go further, new centrifuge machines
will be designed and made whose power is sure to be different. That is why the
number of centrifuges needed will be different,” Salehi stated.
He also added "An old-generation centrifuge was designed for
a 3+ SWU output. Nonetheless they would practically produce less than SWUs. But
if we take that very design as our criteria, to do 190 thousand SWUs we will
need more than 6 thousand centrifuge machines.”
He further stated that if Iran activates the 10-SWU machines
it has at its disposal, it will need 19 thousand of the machines working.
Pointing out that yet more powerful machines with output
capacities at 24 SWUs are being produced he said "These centrifuge machines are
under tests. It will take 4 years for them to reach mass production. But if we
consider those, we will need less than 10 thousand centrifuges to produce 190
thousand SWUs enriched uranium.”