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Last update - 07:46 06/11/2009
Iran may have tested nuclear warhead design, secret IAEA report says
By Reuters
Tags: Qom Nuclear Plant 

The United Nations nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting the Islamic Republic's scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design, the Guardian reported in its Friday edition.

The newspaper, citing what it describes as "previously unpublished documentation" from an International Atomic Energy Agency compiled dossier, said Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of a "two-point implosion" device.

The IAEA said in September it has no proof Iran has or once had a covert atomic bomb program.
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The Vienna-based IAEA was not immediately available for comment on Thursday.


Iran's Foreign Ministry and the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) were also unavailable for comment when contacted by Reuters.

The IAEA statement in September followed reports from the Associated Press quoting what it called a classified IAEA document saying agency experts agreed Iran now had the means to build atomic bombs and was heading towards developing a missile system able to carry a nuclear warhead.

The Guardian report said that even the existence of two-point implosion nuclear warhead technology is officially secret in both the United States and Britain.

The technology allows for the production of smaller and simpler warheads, making it easier to put a warhead on a missile, the newspaper said.

Extracts of the dossier have been published before, but it was not known the dossier included documentation of such a sophisticated warhead, the newspaper said.

UN inspectors found "nothing to be worried about" in a first look at a previously secret uranium enrichment site in Iran last month, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said in remarks released on Thursday.

Mohammed ElBaradei also told the New York Times that he was examining possible compromises to unblock a draft nuclear cooperation deal between Iran and three major powers that has floundered over Iranian objections.

The nuclear site, which Iran revealed in September three years after diplomats said Western spies first detected it, added to Western fears of covert Iranian efforts to develop atom bombs. Iran says it is enriching uranium only for electricity.


ElBaradei was quoted in a New York Times interview as saying his inspectors' initial findings at the fortified site beneath a desert mountain near the Shi'ite holy city of Qom were "nothing to be worried about."

"The idea was to use it as a bunker under the mountain to protect things," ElBaradei, alluding to Tehran's references to the site as a fallback for its nuclear program in case its larger Natanz enrichment plant were bombed by a foe like Israel.

"It's a hole in a mountain," he said.

The IAEA has declined to comment on whether the inspectors came across anything surprising or were able to obtain all the documentation and on-site access they had wanted at the remote spot about 160 km (100 miles) south of Tehran.

Details are expected to be included in the next IAEA report on Iran's disputed nuclear activity due in mid-November.

The inspectors' goal was to compare engineering designs to be provided by Iran with the actual look of the facility, interview scientists and other employees, and take soil samples to check for any traces of activity oriented to making bombs.

Western diplomats and analysts say the site's capacity appears too small to fuel a nuclear power station but enough to yield fissile material for one or two nuclear warheads a year.

The Islamic Republic revealed the plant's existence to the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog on Sept. 21. It said the site, which remains under construction, would enrich uranium only to the low 5 percent purity suitable for power plant fuel.

Enrichment to the 90 percent threshold provides the fissile material that detonates nuclear weapons.

After talks with Iran and three world powers, ElBaradei drafted a plan for Iran to transfer most of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia and France to turn it into fuel for a Tehran reactor that makes isotopes for cancer treatment.

Russia, France and the United States, which would help modernize the reactor's safety equipment and instrumentation under the deal, see it as a way to reduce Iran's LEU stockpile below the threshold needed to produce material for a bomb.

But since the Oct. 19-21 talks, Iran has made clear it is loath to ship its own LEU abroad because of its strategic value, and would prefer buying the reactor fuel it needs from foreign suppliers. Iran has called for more talks.

Western diplomats say the three powers do not want more talks and that Iran's demands are a non-starter as they would do nothing to remove the risk of nuclear proliferation in Iran.

ElBaradei was quoted by the New York Times as saying the problem boiled down to "total distrust on the part of Iran ..."

"The issue is timing, whether the uranium goes out and then some time later they get the fuel, as we agreed [tentatively] in Geneva, or whether it only goes at the same time as the fuel is delivered," he said.

"There are a lot of ideas. One is to send [Iran's uranium] to a third country, which could be a friendly country to Iran, and it stays there. Park it in another state ...[for] something like a year..., then ... bring in the fuel. The issue is to get it out, and so create the time and space to start building trust."

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      1.   another "secret" dossier planted by israel 04:46  |  Hans Bergman 06/11/09
      2.   And ElBaradei says theres` nothing to worry about. 05:11  |  Fortuna Benmayor 06/11/09
      3.   Hopes for Peace Evaporate Like Dew in the Desert 05:17  |  Rick 06/11/09
      4.   Saddam had secret Mushroom Cloud 05:47  |  Mark Lincoln 06/11/09
      5.   So curious 05:50  |  Mark Lincoln 06/11/09
      6.   Does Iran have the technology to build a bomb? 05:53  |  Mark Lincoln 06/11/09
      7.   Draw a very pointed cone. 06:03  |  Mark Lincoln 06/11/09
      8.   The relief 06:07  |  Mark Lincoln 06/11/09
      9.   Iran is willing to negotiate until the end of time 06:18  |  Stephen in New York 06/11/09
      10.   TRUST the UN?? 06:24  |  PETER SM 06/11/09
      11.   It`s just a question of when now 06:37  |  Peter Williams 06/11/09
      12.   Lincoln and atomic lecture what a lier 06:44  |  charro 06/11/09
      13.   SNY, only if Israel touches it off as they are trying to do... 06:46  |  BBSNews 06/11/09
      14.   lincoln the great profesor in Phisics 06:47  |  charro 06/11/09
      15.   Mark, baffling them with facts does not work... 06:58  |  BBSNews 06/11/09
      16.   Saddam Had Secret Mushroom Head... 07:04  |  Yosemite 06/11/09
      17.   is the free world leaderless? 07:24  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 06/11/09
      18.   theanks MARK LINCOLN, i doubt it too 07:30  |  VIPER 06/11/09
      19.   Iran has been helped all along 07:33  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 06/11/09
      20.   The Obama effect 07:38  |  abrakadabra 06/11/09
      21.   Is there anyway out of Armageddon? 07:56  |  Rob 06/11/09
      22.   Baradei Says All`s Fine In Iran, We Can Relax, Is That True Neda? 08:19  |  Lavi 06/11/09
      23.   Mark Lincoln 08:27  |  Zionist to the Core 06/11/09
      24.   Mark Lincoln 08:27  |  Zionist to the Core 06/11/09
      25.   sson you will hear explosion by mistake 09:33  |  joe 06/11/09
      26.   So what 10:17  |  Chris Linthwaite 06/11/09
      27.   There is no civilian use for such an explosive, except there are 10:45  |  Richard Pearce 06/11/09
      28.   #10 Richard pease explain why? 11:43  |  petra 06/11/09
      29.   # Place head in sand again, Ostrich. 11:44  |  Petra 06/11/09
      30.   a secret report not yet issued 12:12  |  Henon 06/11/09
      31.   #16 Chris Linthwaite 12:57  |  Albrecht Klein 06/11/09
      32.   linthwait 13:15  |  Yaron 06/11/09
      33.   Nothing to worry about: Just a NUKE TEST 13:29  |  Avi 06/11/09
      34.   #10 BBS 13:44  |  Joe W 06/11/09
      35.   Park it where? 3 card monte is what Iran is trying.... 14:09  |  r 06/11/09
      36.   A Nuclear Iran Or A Nuclear Free Middle East 15:32  |  Cool B 06/11/09
      37.   No it has not! ElBaradei says "there`s nothing to worry about" 15:38  |  D 06/11/09
      38.   I Don`t Want To Be A Racist But... 16:15  |  Eli 06/11/09
      39.   even the existence of two-point design secret? 17:12  |  Victor 06/11/09
      40.   Is this the same IAEA that reported "all-clear" this morning?! 17:33  |  Esther 06/11/09
      41.   How to reduce the world`s nukes by 80% 17:46  |  chilem 06/11/09
      42.   Conquest and occupation could work 17:50  |  Mark Lincoln 06/11/09
      43.   1 border guard killed: compare to cast lead.... 17:57  |  jon 06/11/09
      44.   Dummy facility! 18:15  |  Andrei 06/11/09
      45.   In his haste to provide details, Mark Lincoln misses the obvious 18:19  |  Jacob Blues 06/11/09
      46.   Don`t worry, be happy 18:26  |  Jacob Blues 06/11/09
      47.   UN Does Not Care About Israel`s Existence 18:42  |  Jane 06/11/09
      48.   #5--not so easy to make warhead--easier to stop 18:45  |  Paul Freedman 06/11/09
      49.   #2 Fortuna, may I recommend the Interview 19:12  |  Ardi 06/11/09
      50.   CHRIS LINTHEAITE - OMG MAN 19:45  |  Sixpoint77 06/11/09
      51.   Bizarre news from next to nowhere - jon 19:46  |  Mark Lincoln 06/11/09
      52.   Does Elbaradei works for IAEA or Iran? 19:52  |  he makes me laugh 06/11/09
      53.   Something for Jacob C = (r_0/(r_0 - delta))^n 19:53  |  Mark Lincoln 06/11/09
      54.   A month later, the trusted Iranians had time to conceal everythin 19:56  |  Dan 06/11/09
      55.   Paul Freedman 20:25  |  Mark Lincoln 06/11/09
      56.   "officially secret" 20:55  |  Mark Lincoln 06/11/09
      57.   To Esther in TA (#40) 21:46  |  Morris Valentine 06/11/09
      58.   You can lead a mathmatician to water but you can`t make him think 21:49  |  Jacob Blues 06/11/09
      59.   #7, MarkL 22:36  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 06/11/09
      60.   #47, Jane 22:46  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 06/11/09
      61.   Mark Lincoln as J. Aristotle 22:49  |  Jacob Blues 06/11/09
      62.   Revealing secrets of thermo-nuclear explosions 22:58  |  Jacob Blues 06/11/09
      63.   To Chris - GET USED TO MAD-SO WHAT? 23:20  |  Eli 06/11/09
      64.   #58 Eli of Toronto (2) 00:20  |  Chris Linthwaite 07/11/09
      65.   The real threat 03:27  |  Mark Lincoln 07/11/09
      66.   #60, MarkL, we know what the real threat is 06:59  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 07/11/09
      67.   I don`t have faith in El Badarei. 16:09  |  Lily 07/11/09
      68.   It is over get use to the world of MAD. 03:08  |  Chris Linthwaite 08/11/09
      69.   `May Have" 03:08  |  Mark Lincoln 08/11/09
      70.   You are all crazy... 04:38  |  Howard F 08/11/09
      71.   M.LINCOLN Irans flunkies Hezballah have a mushroom cloud ON their 05:18  |  PETER SM 08/11/09
      72.   Just a silly question 06:28  |  John and the truth 08/11/09
      73.   Iran should get weapons fast 15:44  |  jeremy lovitch 08/11/09
      74.   #55 Morris Valentine you should have worked for Palin 15:45  |  Roo 08/11/09
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