Iran to announce nuclear plans

Iran to announce nuclear plans

Iran has rejected U.N. demands to halt enrichment, a process that can make power plant fuel or material for warheads, and has instead vowed to expand what it insists is peaceful atomic work.

Diplomats speculate President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may announce Iran has installed more centrifuges, the machines used for enrichment at the Natanz facility in central Iran.

"The president with senior officials will be in Natanz among foreign and local journalists to announce good news (about the nuclear program)," Iran's Fars News Agency reported.

Iran, the state-run daily, referred to an announcement of "important news about peaceful nuclear technology that is crucial regarding the country's atomic abilities".

Ahmadinejad, who said in February he would announce "great" nuclear achievements in the days to April 9, will be joined by senior officials from Iran's Atomic Energy Organization at the site about 200 km (125 miles) south of Tehran.

He is expected to hold a news conference at about 1200 GMT.

Officials have been tight-lipped about what will be revealed but Sunday's Jam-e Jam newspaper wrote: "The installation and start up of 3,000 centrifuges and the injection of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas will be announced by the president."

UF6 gas is fed into centrifuges as feedstock.

Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter which says it wants a network of nuclear power plants to produce energy, runs 350 experimental centrifuges at an above ground pilot facility at Natanz.

The IAEA said in February Iran had set up two cascades of 164 centrifuges below ground, where Iran is installing 3,000 machines as part of its "industrial" enrichment plans.

Diplomats who follow Iran's nuclear file say Iran has set up four more cascades since February, bringing the total number now in the underground section to six cascades or 984 centrifuges. The diplomats have said no feedstock has been fed in yet.

The Islamic Republic's refusal to accept U.N. demands to stop enrichment has prompted the U.N. Security Council to pass two sanctions resolutions on the country since December.

The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, says it has gaps in its knowledge about Iran's plans that need to be filled before it can confirm they are peaceful.

The IAEA is pushing Tehran to agree to let it install cameras in the underground section of Natanz to monitor Iran's work. Iran says such intrusive surveillance goes beyond its basic safeguards commitment to the IAEA. Talks continue.

Angered by the second sanctions resolution in March, Iran said it would limit cooperation with the IAEA by not giving early word of plans to build new nuclear installations, backing out of a voluntary agreement to provide such information.