Latest news with #uranium enrichment
Telegraph
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Iran refuses to abandon nuclear programme
Iran will not abandon its nuclear programme despite 'severe' damage caused by US and Israeli air strikes, its foreign minister said. Abbas Araghchi conceded late on Monday that uranium enrichment had 'stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe', ahead of renewed talks with European powers. But Mr Araghchi told Fox News: 'Obviously we cannot give up enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists.' He called the programme a source of 'national pride'. Iran is due to meet Britain, France and Germany in Istanbul on Friday to discuss its uranium enrichment programme, with Tehran accusing European powers of scuppering the significant 2015 nuclear deal. The meeting will be the first since Iran's 12-day war with Israel last month, during which the US bombed three of its critical nuclear facilities, including the Fordow underground enrichment site. Mr Araghchi stressed that any future nuclear deal would have to contain the right to enrichment. Asked if any near-bomb-grade uranium had been saved from the strikes, he claimed he had 'no detailed information' but said Iran's atomic energy organisation was still 'trying to evaluate' what happened to the enriched nuclear material. Donald Trump, the US president, has repeatedly claimed the air strikes 'obliterated' the sites and lashed out against media reports citing US intelligence findings that the attacks set back Iran's nuclear program only by months, rather than destroying it. Mr Agarachi said: 'Yes, facilities have been destroyed. They are severely destroyed. But the technology is there, our nuclear program, our enrichment program, is not something imported from outside that can be destroyed by bombings.' Donald Trump quickly responded to Mr Araghchi's comments, threatening on social media to 'do it again, if necessary!' Weapons programme Western powers have long accused Tehran of secretly seeking nuclear weapons. Iran has repeatedly denied this, insisting its nuclear programme is solely for civilian purposes such as energy production. But some in the Iranian regime view atomic weapons as a deterrent against perceived threats. Iran had made progress recently, with experts fearing that it was within sprinting distance of enriching uranium to bomb grade before the Israeli and US strikes. However, Israeli and US officials believe some of Iran's stockpile of 60 per cent enriched uranium survived the attacks and could be salvaged by Tehran. Britain, France and Germany remain part of a 2015 nuclear deal also signed by the Obama administration, China and Russia that imposed curbs on Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. The agreement unravelled in 2018 when Mr Trump withdrew during his first term and reimposed sweeping sanctions. The three European powers have threatened to reimpose UN sanctions on Tehran by the end of August unless there is progress towards limiting its nuclear programme. The agreement expires in October, leaving a tight deadline. Tehran and Washington held five rounds of nuclear talks starting in April but the negotiations ended after Israel launched its surprise strikes on Iran on June 13. 'At present, we have no plans to hold talks with the United States,' Esmail Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry. Tehran will also host a trilateral meeting on Tuesday with Chinese and Russian representatives to discuss the nuclear issue and potential sanctions.
The Independent
10 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Uranium enrichment ‘a question of national pride', says Iran's foreign minister
Iran 's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that Tehran cannot abandon its uranium enrichment programme, which was seriously damaged in June's conflict with Israel. The declaration follows five rounds of nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington, mediated by Oman, which failed to agree on the extent of Iran's enrichment. While Israel and Washington claim Iran was close to levels for rapid nuclear weapon production, Tehran insists its programme is for civilian purposes. 'It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe,' Mr Araghchi said on the Fox News show Special Report with Bret Baier on Monday. 'But obviously we cannot give up (on) enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride.' The foreign minister said the damage to the Iranian nuclear facilities after US and Israeli strikes is being evaluated further. Israel targeted some of Iran's key nuclear facilities – Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow – and killed several Iranian nuclear scientists in the strikes. The facilities are heavily fortified and largely underground. Natanz and Fordow are Iran's uranium enrichment sites, and Isfahan provides the raw materials. Mr Araghchi also said that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is in "good health" and that Tehran is open to talks with Washington but that those will not be direct "for the time being". Israel attacked Iran on 13 June and the Middle Eastern rivals then engaged in an air war for 12 days, in which Washington also bombed Iran's nuclear facilities. A ceasefire was reached in late June. Iran is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while Israel is not. The UN nuclear watchdog says it has "no credible indication" of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran. Tehran maintains its nuclear programme is solely meant for civilian purposes. Israel is the only Middle Eastern country believed to have nuclear weapons and said its war against Iran aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Times
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Times
Iran to resume nuclear programme as a matter of ‘national pride'
Iran will resume its nuclear programme as a matter of 'national pride', its foreign minister said on Monday. Abbas Araghchi conceded that uranium enrichment had been halted by the US bombing of three main facilities a month ago after a breakdown in talks with Washington and targeted killings of nuclear scientists by Israel. But he said that this was a temporary hiatus and the regime in Tehran remained committed to nuclear development, as well as to the production of more missiles. 'Our enrichment is so dear to us,' Araghchi told Fox News's Special Report with Bret Baier. 'It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up on enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists,' he said. 'Now, more than that, it is a question of national pride.' Araghchi would not be drawn on the extent of the destruction caused when US stealth bombers dropped 12 'bunker buster' Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs on the Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant, and two more on the Natanz Nuclear Facility on June 22. The Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre was targeted by Tomahawk missiles fired from a submarine. 'Our facilities have been damaged — seriously damaged,' Araghchi said. 'The extent of which is now under evaluation by our atomic energy organisation. But as far as I know, they are seriously damaged.' President Trump said that the strikes 'completely and totally obliterated' Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities. Araghchi said Iran was not ready for direct talks with the US but eventually wanted a negotiated solution allowing it to continue civil nuclear power enrichment. 'We are ready to do any confidence-building measure needed to prove that Iran's nuclear programme is peaceful and would remain peaceful for ever and Iran would never go for nuclear weapons,' he said. 'In return, we expect them to lift their sanctions. This is a win-win game and we are ready to engage in that. We cannot start these negotiations in a direct way. We still prefer indirect negotiations.' Pushed on why Iran kept enriching towards the higher levels required for nuclear weapons, Araghchi added: 'We remain committed to below 5 per cent to produce fuel for nuclear power plants and we also enriched up to 20 per cent because we have a research reactor in Tehran … so we are enriching uranium for our own needs. 'We once went up to 60 per cent and that was after the sabotage in our nuclear facilities … I was a negotiator at that time. I told our interlocutors that we immediately go down if a nuclear deal is achieved.' He said Iran's main nuclear site was buried deep underground not because it was sinister but to protect it from attack. Its missile programme was in 'good shape', he insisted, despite being targeted by numerous Israeli attacks in June. 'Our missiles are our most reliable means of defence. So we continue our missile programme,' he said. 'Right now, it's still in a very good shape. We still have a good number of missiles to defend ourselves.' Araghchi said that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader who is rarely seen in public, was 'in very good health' and that 'the whole system in Iran is quite stable and strong'. He denied allegations that Iran was seeking the assassination of Trump or other leading US officials in revenge for the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the leader of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in 2020. 'Maybe some individuals here or there have said things like that but that has never been Iran's official position,' Araghchi said. Asked about Khamenei's statement in 2019 that the chant of 'Death to America' 'means death to Trump', Araghchi said: 'The supreme leader and other officials in Iran have always said that death to America is in fact death to the hegemonic policies of the United States, not to the people of the United States … This is not our policy to kill anybody outside Iran, let alone the president of another country.' Prosecutors in Manhattan have said that the IRGC commissioned the assassination of Trump last September from an Afghan man who emigrated to the US as a child. Christopher Wray, the FBI director at the time, said Iran 'has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen to target and gun down Americans on US soil and that simply won't be tolerated'. Araghchi also referred to Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis as 'freedom fighters … for a just cause'. Asked if this included wiping out Israel, he said: 'Well, we have never said that … that is up to them. They are fighting for their own homeland, so they may say anything. But this has never been Iran's policy, to wipe out Israel from the map.' Iran faces further international sanctions if it fails to reach a nuclear agreement by the end of August, with talks due to be held with officials from Britain, France and Germany on Friday. Tehran maintains that its nuclear programme is solely meant for civilian purposes, while the US said it struck because it feared Iran was days or weeks away from being able to construct a nuclear weapon.
Al Jazeera
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Iran's FM says nuclear enrichment will continue, but open to talks
Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi has said that Tehran cannot give up on its uranium enrichment programme, which was severely damaged by waves of US and Israeli air strikes last month. 'It is now stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe, but obviously, we cannot give up our enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists, and now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,' Araghchi told the US broadcaster Fox News in an interview aired on Monday. Araghchi said at the beginning of the interview that Iran is 'open to talks' with the United States, but that they would not be direct talks 'for the time being'. 'If they [the US] are coming for a win-win solution, I am ready to engage with them,' he said. 'We are ready to do any confidence-building measure needed to prove that Iran's nuclear programme is peaceful and would remain peaceful forever, and Iran would never go for nuclear weapons, and in return, we expect them to lift their sanctions,' the foreign minister added. 'So, my message to the United States is that let's go for a negotiated solution for Iran's nuclear programme.' Araghchi's comments were part of a 16-minute interview aired on Fox News, a broadcaster known to be closely watched by US President Donald Trump. 'There is a negotiated solution for our nuclear programme. We have done it once in the past. We are ready to do it once again,' Araghchi said. Tehran and Washington had been holding talks on the nuclear programme earlier this year, seven years after Trump pulled the US out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Tehran signed with several world powers in 2015. Under the pact, Iran opened the country's nuclear sites to comprehensive international inspection in return for the lifting of sanctions. Trump's decision to pull the US out of the deal came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran of pursuing a 'secret nuclear programme'. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear enrichment programme is strictly for civilian purposes. The US and Iran engaged in talks as recently as May to reach a new deal, but those negotiations broke down when Israel launched surprise bombing raids across Iran on June 13, targeting military and nuclear sites. More than 900 people were killed in Iran, and at least 28 people were killed in Israel before a ceasefire took hold on June 24. The US also joined Israel in attacking Iranian nuclear facilities, with the Pentagon later claiming it had set back the country's nuclear programme by one to two years. Araghchi said on Monday that Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation is still evaluating how the attacks had affected Iran's enriched material, adding that they will 'soon inform' the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of its findings. He said any request for the IAEA to send inspectors would be 'carefully considered'. 'We have not stopped our cooperation with the agency,' he claimed. IAEA inspectors left Iran after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a law suspending cooperation with the IAEA earlier this month. Tehran had sharply criticised the IAEA and its chief, Rafael Grossi, over a June 12 resolution passed by the IAEA board accusing Tehran of non-compliance with its nuclear obligations. Iranian officials said the resolution was among the 'excuses' that Israel used as a pretext to launch its attacks, which began on June 13 and lasted for 12 days. Speaking to journalists earlier on Monday, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the United Nations secretary-general, said that the UN welcomed renewed 'dialogue between the Europeans and the Iranians', referring to talks set to take place between Iran, France, Germany and the United Kingdom in Turkiye on Friday. The three European parties to the former JCPOA agreement have said that Tehran's failure to resume negotiations would lead to international sanctions being reimposed on Iran.
Associated Press
6 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
A look inside a lab making the advanced fuel to power growing US nuclear energy ambitions
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) — Near signs that warn of radioactive risk at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a half-dozen workers from the nuclear power company X-energy are making what appear to be gray billiard balls. Inside, they're packed with thousands of tiny black spheres that each contain a speck of uranium enriched beyond what today's power plants use. The United States is chasing a new age of nuclear power that banks on domestic production of reactor fuel like X-energy is making, and though the work at Oak Ridge is unfolding across just 3,000 square feet, X-energy and others are already revving up for big production. President Donald Trump set a goal of quadrupling domestic production of nuclear power within the next 25 years, signing executive orders in May to speed up development. A new wave of advanced nuclear reactors could be operational around 2030. But just like cars won't run without gas, those plants won't run without fuel. To expand nuclear energy long-term, the nation must maximize its nuclear fuel production, according to Trump. In Oak Ridge, X-energy has broken ground on a massive, nearly $2 billion campus for a new fuel fabrication facility, the first in the United States in over half a century. The nuclear fuel company Standard Nuclear, also in Oak Ridge, aims to produce metric tons of fuel for advanced reactors. A supplier named Orano is likewise looking to build a multibillion-dollar uranium enrichment facility nearby. 'This is a unique time,' said Tyler Gerczak, Oak Ridge National Laboratory's principal investigator for the cooperative with X-energy's subsidiary TRISO-X. 'The momentum is incredible.' Making the 'most robust nuclear fuel' The Associated Press toured the lab where X-energy is making small amounts of fuel for testing. Anyone beyond a magenta-and-yellow chain that warns of radioactivity must wear gowns, two layers of gloves and radiation monitors. When they leave, they're tested for radioactivity. X-energy, a Maryland-based company, uses uranium to make so-called TRISO fuel — inside what's known as 'pebbles.' Those are the billiard balls. The Energy Department says it's the most robust nuclear fuel on Earth because the particles cannot melt in a reactor. At the lab, the first step is making a uranium cocktail that resembles dark yellow lemonade. Uranium powder, in the form of triuranium octoxide, gets added to nitric acid, said Dan Brown, vice president of fuel development for TRISO-X. Then carbon and an organic solution are added. They have two glass containers set up — one wears a heated jacket, looking almost like a little sweater, that helps the uranium dissolve into the acid solution. The second cools the acid solution while the carbon source is added, which turns the mix near-black, he said. At another station, in a long clear tube, the cocktail solidifies into small black spheres with a jellybean-like consistency. Those black balls, about the size of poppyseeds, then travel through machines under temperatures as high as 1,800 degrees Celsius to get protective carbon coatings — like candy dipping — that make them look like very tiny BBs. X-energy uses graphite and other cohesive materials to bind 18,000 kernels together into a larger sphere. That gets coated in a final layer of graphite to seal the final pebble. In the end, it's strong enough to withstand the weight of an SUV. The pebbles will eventually give up their energy in the high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor X-energy is developing, with about 220,000 pebbles per reactor, like gumballs in a gumball machine. When they exit the bottom, if energy remains, the pebbles will return to the top for another pass. Each one could be used about six times. X-energy also plans to make fuel products for other advanced reactor designs. The national laboratory lends X-energy its expertise, research and high-tech equipment for analysis and will evaluate samples, as will some universities. Other samples are archived. Idaho National Laboratory received a batch for its advanced test reactor, Brown said. Critics of building more nuclear reactors say they're too expensive and riskier than other low-carbon energy sources. 'Without a substantial decrease in construction costs, it's not worth the avoided greenhouse gas emissions,' said David Kemp, a Cato Institute policy analyst. Kemp said Trump's 25-year quadrupling goal is unrealistic because it would mean building nuclear reactors faster than ever. The United States lacks any next-generation reactors operating commercially and only two new large reactors have been built from scratch in nearly 50 years. Those two, at a Georgia nuclear plant, were completed years late and at least $17 billion over budget. Working to 'amp up' domestic nuclear fuel production Many next-generation reactors will use high-assay low-enriched uranium. It's fuel that's enriched to a higher level than traditional large nuclear reactors use, allowing the newer reactors to run longer and more efficiently, sit on smaller footprints and produce less waste, according to the Department of Energy. There's little of it made in the United States right now. Only Russia and China currently have the infrastructure to make large amounts of high-assay low-enriched uranium. In the United States, Centrus Energy produced the nation's first 20 kilograms of high-assay low-enriched uranium in more than 70 years in late 2023, to show it can produce limited quantities for commercial reactors. A big takeaway from Trump's executive orders is the need to 'amp up' domestic production of nuclear fuel to reduce dependence on foreign sources and enable in the long term expansion of American nuclear energy, according to the Energy Department. At the Nuclear Energy Institute trade association, Benjamin Holtzman, director of new nuclear, said he thinks the fuel will be ready for a new generation of U.S. nuclear reactors needed to meet the growing demand for electricity — if the right actions are taken now. X-energy CEO J. Clay Sell said he hopes to help solve the fuel problem so it doesn't hold back new reactor development. The Energy Department has awarded funding to X-energy. Amazon invested in X-energy too, and they're collaborating to bring more than 5 gigawatts of new U.S. power projects online by 2039. X-energy is the only one with an application before the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license a new fabrication facility to transform enriched uranium into fuel products for nuclear reactors. Another applicant has asked to amend an existing license to make fuel for advanced reactors, according to the NRC. About five additional companies have told the NRC they are interested in making fuel for advanced reactors. X-energy's pilot lab at the National Laboratory started in 2016. The company now has 100 acres in Oak Ridge and growing for its nuclear fuel production complex. The first factory could be operational by late 2027 or early 2028, capable at full operation of assembling enough fuel orbs to power 11 of its new-age reactors; a second by late 2029, with a capacity four times greater, said TRISO-X President Joel Duling. 'I've been through two or three 'nuclear renaissances,'' Duling said. 'This isn't a renaissance. This is a game-changer.' ___ McDermott reported from Providence, Rhode Island. ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
