Fire at Iran’s Nuclear facility slows down development of Centrifugal Machines

A fire that broke out in the Natanz nuclear facility of Iran has caused significant damages that could slow down Iran’s Nuclear enrichment programme. There were no casualties reported in the incident.

Highlights

The Natanz Uranium enrichment site is located underground. It is one of the several Iranian facilities that are monitored by International Atomic Energy Agency.

A Roadmap Agreement was signed between the IAEA and Iran under the JCPOA. Under the agreement, the IAEA monitors several nuclear sites of Iran.

JCPOA

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as Iran nuclear was signed between China, Russia, US, France, UK, Germany and European Union. In 2018, the US walked out of the agreement.

Under the agreement Iran agreed to enrich its Uranium only upto 3.67% for the next 15 years.

Background

In 2015, Iran launched the centrifugal machines to speed up its uranium enrichments. This reduced the compliance of the 2015 nuclear deal.

These machines were capable of refining Uranium 10 times faster.

Earlier, a computer worm Stuxnet created similar havoc of disturbing Iran’s nuclear enrichment. The worm was discovered in 2010 and is believed to be a joint cyber weapon of United Sates and Israel.

Month: Current Affairs - July, 2020