Top Body Determines Cause of Fire at Natanz

Date: 03 July 2020 - 22:12

News ID: ۸۰۲۱۱

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran’s top security body said on Friday the cause of an incident and fire at the Natanz nuclear site had been determined and will be announced later, semi-official news agency Tasnim reported.
"Investigations by the relevant agencies have accurately determined the cause of the incident... at the Natanz nuclear complex,” spokesman Keyvan Khosravi said, according to Tasnim. "Due to security considerations, the cause and manner of the incident will be announced at a convenient time.”
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) initially reported an "incident” had occurred early on Thursday at Natanz. It later published a photo of a one-storey brick building with its roof and walls partly burned and a door hanging off its hinges.
"There is some damage to one of the sheds on the ground which was inactive and under construction. There was no radioactive material in it and there were no personnel,” AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said from the site.
"There has been no interruption in the work of the enrichment site which is underground and no damage to the site.”
The Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP), Iran’s main uranium enrichment site, is one of several Iranian facilities monitored by the United Nations nuclear agency.
Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of sanctions in a deal reached between Tehran and six world powers in 2015.
But Tehran has gradually reduced its commitments to the accord since U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed and intensified sanctions.
The deal only allows Iran to enrich uranium at Natanz facility with just over 5,000 first-generation IR-1 centrifuges, but Iran has installed new cascades of advanced centrifuges.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is policing the nuclear deal and carries out inspections in Iran, said it was aware of reports about Natanz and in contact with relevant authorities in Iran to confirm it could continue its checks at the nuclear facility.