Foreign Suppliers to Iran's Nuclear Development

Return to Iran's Nuclear Development.

Foreign Suppliers to Iran's Nuclear Development

Conversion

Isfahan:

• In 1996, Iran told the IAEA that it planned to construct a UF6 conversion facility with Chinese help. Iran expects the plant to commence operations after 2000. China may have cancelled the project, but has provided Iran with blueprints for the facility.[1]

Unspecified Locations:

• The UK firms Air Products, British Nuclear Fuels, Fisions, and Leeds & Northtrup allegedly sold Iran fluorine gas, which is used in the production of UF6.[2]

Notes:

1. Mark Hibbs, "Iran Told IAEA It Will Build a UF6 Plant at Isfahan," NuclearFuel, December 16, 1996, p. 1; Mark Hibbs, "Iran Agrees to Monitoring under 93+2, Part I Safeguards," NuclearFuel, January 13, 1997, p. 3; John Pomfret, "U.S. May Certify China on Curbing Nuclear Exports," Washington Post, September 18, 1997, p. A28.

2. Michael Eisenstadt, Iranian Military Power: Capabilities and Intentions (Washington, D.C.: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 1996), p. 109; Suppliers of Dual-Use Technology to Iran (Washington, D.C.: US House of Representatives, Subcommittee on International Security, International Organizations, and Human Rights, Committee on Foreign Affairs, September 13, 1993), p. 24-25.