News / Nuclear Energy

AEOI: Iran has taken great steps towards 190k-SWU uranium enrichment

Thursday, 20 August 2020 10:34 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 20 August 2020 10:44 AM ]

This photo released November 5, 2019, by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), shows centrifuge machines in the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran.

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says it has taken “great steps” towards enriching uranium at the level of 190,000 separative work units (SWUs).

In a post on its Twitter account on Thursday, the AEOI said, “Whether snapback is triggered or the current status continues, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has taken great steps in providing 190,000 SWUs. The authority of the nuclear industry remains.”

SWU is the standard measure of the effort required to separate isotopes of uranium during an enrichment process. One SWU is equivalent to one kilogram of separative work.

The announcement comes as the US has intensifies a push to kill a 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers.

The administration of US President Donald Trump is seeking to trigger the so-called snapback of anti-Iran sanctions at the UN by claiming that it remains a participant in the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Leader: Nuclear agency must get ready for enrichment up to 190,000SWU as of tomorrow

Ayatollah Khamenei orders Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to get ready to enrich uranium to a level of 190,000SWU without delay.

The new US push came after it failed in its bid at the UNSC to extend the Iranian arms embargo set to expire in October under UN Security Council Resolution Resolution 2231 that endorsed the JCPOA.

This is while Washington withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and reinstated its unilateral economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic in defiance of Resolution 2231.

In response to Washington’s exit and the ensuing failure of the remaining European parties to the deal to live up to their contractual obligations, Iran suspended some of its commitments under the JCPOA.

A month after the US withdrawal, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei ordered the AEOI to make preparations for a potential collapse of the JCPOA, including getting ready for enriching uranium up to a level of 190,000 SWU without any delay.

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