http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3D712652006

UN finds new uranium traces in Iran - diplomats

By Louis Charbonneau

BERLIN (Reuters) - U.N. inspectors have discovered new traces of
highly-enriched uranium on nuclear equipment in Iran, deepening
suspicions Tehran may still be concealing the full extent of its
atomic enrichment programme, diplomats said.

Several Western diplomats said there were signs Iran continued to
pursue uranium enrichment research in secret and fear the goal is to
acquire the capability to produce enriched-uranium fuel for weapons --
a charge Iran denies.

In its April report to the U.N. Security Council, the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it took samples from equipment that
had been acquired by a former research centre at Lavizan-Shiyan. The
centre was razed in 2004 before IAEA inspectors could examine it.

The IAEA inspectors took swabs from vacuum pumps earlier this year
which were subjected to microscopic particle analysis, diplomats said.
Vacuum pumps are dual-use but are needed when enriching uranium with a
cascade of interconnected centrifuges.

"Preliminary analysis by the IAEA showed traces of highly enriched
uranium in the (pump) samples," a Western diplomat accredited to the
IAEA told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The former physics centre at Lavizan, which advised the defence
ministry, acquired some dual-use machinery useable for uranium
enrichment, including vacuum pumps.

A diplomat in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, confirmed the new
finding but warned against exaggerating its significance: "It's no
smoking gun. There could be many explanations. But it increases
pressure on Iran to come clean about Lavizan."

Iranian officials declined to comment for this article.

In 2003, the IAEA found traces of highly-enriched uranium (HEU) at
several sites in Iran. Most HEU is now believed to have come from
contamination on second-hand Pakistani equipment.

"Even if it is the same contamination, this is a significant finding
because it indicates something was going on at Lavizan," said David
Albright, a former U.N. weapons inspector and head of the Institute
for Science and International Security think-tank.

SECRET SITES?

He said it raised the question of whether Iran ran a second parallel
enrichment programme alongside the one it has declared.

The finding will probably also deepen suspicions among Western
countries that Iran's military was actively involved in the programme
for uranium enrichment, a process of purifying uranium for use in
nuclear power plants or atomic weapons.

Iran says it only wants to generate electricity, but the West believes
the secrecy and military links to its atomic programme are clear signs
that it is also aimed at making bombs.

The U.N. Security Council has called on Iran to freeze its enrichment
programme, but Tehran refuses.

Iran has already succeeded in purifying uranium to low-grade levels
needed for power plants. Western diplomats say the sophistication of
Iranian nuclear scientists is surprising.

They say that during a 2-1/2 year suspension of its enrichment
programme, Iranian scientists have significantly improved their
mastery of centrifuges, which purify gas of a uranium compound by
spinning at supersonic speeds.

"Our (intelligence) assessment is that you cannot explain Iran's
progress without secret (enrichment) sites being involved," said a
diplomat from a country critical of Iran.

Others say Iran could have made such progress through simulation work.

Another diplomat from the same country said he suspected small amounts
of processed uranium gas were being diverted from Isfahan, possibly to
undisclosed enrichment sites in Iran. An EU diplomat said the IAEA had
such suspicions too but no proof.

Albright said there was no proof of any "secret site" in Iran.

(Additional reporting by Mark Heinrich and Francois Murphy in Vienna)

(c) Reuters 2006

Last updated: 12-May-06 13:33 BST

--
"Iran will not be allowed to have nuclear weapons."
- President George W. Bush, 2004

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