Tuesday, 05 January 2021 _Iran says it has produced its first UF6 (uranium hexafluoride or hex) product a few hours after restarting the enrichment of uranium up to a purity level of 20 percent at Fordow nuclear facility.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), announced late Monday that the first UF6 product was prepared a few hours ago.
The process of injecting gas into the centrifuges and resuming uranium enrichment up to 20% started earlier in the day after informing inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the spokesman said.
“Considering the previous experience of enrichment in Fordow facility, the new production line for enriching uranium to 20% was prepared very quickly,” Kamalvandi said.
He also noted that the country is prepared to enrich uranium at purity levels beyond 20 percent.
According to the AEOI, the resumption of uranium enrichment at this level of purity came in line with the legislation earlier passed by the Iranian Parliament, which obliges the administration of President Hassan Rouhani to expand the country’s nuclear activities in a bid to have the sanctions lifted.
Earlier in the day, Iran's government spokesman announced the beginning of the process to enrich uranium to 20 percent purity at Fordow nuclear facility.
"President [Hassan Rouhani] had ordered the beginning of 20-percent enrichment a couple of days ago, and the process of injecting gas [into centrifuges] has started after informing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ... and the first UF6 product will be out a few hours from now," Ali Rabiei said.