Iran unveils 133 achievements on National Nuclear Technology Day 

Iran has unveiled 133 new nuclear achievements made by the country’s experts in different areas of the nuclear industry, including quantum, enrichment, heavy water and deuterium compounds, radiopharmaceuticals, lasers, and etc.

In a video conference call on Saturday, President Hassan Rouhani unveiled the nuclear achievements in the provinces of Tehran, Markazi, Isfahan, Alborz and Qom to mark the 15th anniversary of the National Nuclear Technology Day.

On his order, Iranian experts began injecting gas to a new generation of centrifuges at Natanz enrichment facility. Iran also began the mechanical testing of IR-9 centrifuges and launched an assembly line for its new generation of centrifuges.  

In Natanz, the order was given to feed gas to 164 all-Iranian IR6 centrifuges, with 10 SWU – separative work units that indicate the amount of separation done by an enrichment process.

The IR6 is the most sustainably efficient centrifuge Iran currently deploys, which will be mass-produced on an industrial level. The machine is able to produce 10 times more uranium hexafluoride (UF6) than IR1, Iran’s first-generation centrifuges.

Rouhani also gave the order to begin feeding gas to test a number of 30 IR5 centrifuges and 30 IR6s centrifuges. Moreover, mechanical tests began on the top-of-the-line IR9 centrifuge that has a separative capacity of 50 SWU.

Further in Natanz, a unit to assemble and evaluate advanced centrifuges was launched.

Iran showed to the world the peaceful nature of its nuclear program by signing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with six world states — namely the US, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China — in 2015. The nuclear deal was also ratified in the form of a UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

However, Washington’s exit in May 2018 and the subsequent re-imposition of unilateral sanctions against Tehran left the future of the historic agreement in limbo.

Tehran remained fully compliant with the JCPOA for an entire year, waiting for the co-signatories to fulfill their end of the bargain by offsetting the impacts of Washington’s bans on the Iranian economy.

As the European parties failed to do so, Tehran moved in May 2019 to scale down its JCPOA commitments under Articles 26 and 36 of the agreement covering Tehran’s legal rights.

Addressing Saturday’s event, Rouhani said one of the honorable effects of the JCPOA was that it completely legalized the nuclear industry in Iran.

“I reiterate that all our nuclear activities are peaceful and for civilian purposes. As Leader [of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] has repeatedly stated, in our religion, pursuing a weapon that can be a great danger to a large community is forbidden,” he noted.

The president also thanked Ali-Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), and the staff of the organization, for the 133 nuclear achievements made over the past year.

“Today, a chain of 164 IR-6 centrifuges was launched. It can provide us with products 10 times more than the former chain. This means the former centrifuges were at most 1 SWU (Separative Work Units), but the new series is 10 SWU," he said.

Moreover, "we have developed the IR-9 centrifuge with the capacity of 50 SWU which can provide us products 50 to 60 times more than the old centrifuges," Rouhani added.

The event also marked the unveiling of a number of radiopharmaceutical products, which Rouhani described as very important.

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