Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Gholamreza Aghazadeh
said on Tuesday that Iran plans to install 50,000 centrifuges, the
official IRNA news agency reported.
"We have plans to install 50,000 centrifuges," Aghazadeh was
quoted by IRNA as saying in an interview.
Asked about why he had not declared inauguration of 3,000
centrifuges at a ceremony held at Natanz on Monday to mark National
Day of Nuclear Technology, he said he was concerned that mentioning
numbers would cause ambiguity that Iran has plans for just 3,000
centrifuges.
"When we say we have entered industrial scale enrichment, (it
means) there is no way back. Installation of centrifuges will
continue steadily to reach a stage where all the 50,000 centrifuges
are launched," he said.
"I was concerned the foreign media would misuse the issue and
pretend that Iran's nuclear program would end up in installation of
just 3,000 centrifuges," he added.
A senior Iranian nuclear official said on Monday that the number
of operating centrifuges at the Natanz nuclear facility in central
Iran would be known in 20 days.
"I don't think there's any need now to declare the number of
centrifuges to which (UF6) gas has been injected, you should wait
for the next 20 days when International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
inspectors present their reports," said Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy
head of Iran's atomic energy organization.
Although the Iranian parliament has demanded the government
reduce its cooperation with IAEA, inspectors from the UN atomic
watchdog are still paying regular visits to Iranian nuclear
sites.
Saeedi declined to comment on whether Iran's entry into the
stage of fuel production on industrial scale meant injection of gas
to 3,000 centrifuges, the report said.
When asked how many centrifuges are needed to start fuel
production at the industrial level, Saeedi said, "We enter the
industrial stage after passing the pilot stage."
Also on Monday, Larijani, when answering a question that if Iran
had begun injecting gas into 3,000 centrifuges, said, "Yes, we have
injected gas." But Larijani didn't explicitly say all the 3,000
machines had been installed.
Just a few minutes before Larijani's comments, Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran had become one of the few countries
that could produce nuclear fuel at "industrial level", which was
opposite to the UN demand of halting enrichment activities.
Some observers have predicted that Ahmadinejad's announcement,
which was opposite to the UN resolution demand of halting
enrichment, would escalate the current tension between Iran and the
West, just five days after the end of sailors detention crisis with
Britain.
(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2007)
