Iran to make 250-300 tonnes of nuclear fuel a year

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iran's government has approved plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants, according to state media.



The government told the Iranian nuclear agency to begin work on five sites, with five more to be located over the next two months. It comes days after the UN nuclear watchdog rebuked Iran for covering up a uranium enrichment plant.



Iran says the new plants would be of a similar size to its main existing one at Natanz.



President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told his cabinet that parliament had ordered that Iran should produce 20,000 megawatts of nuclear energy by 2020.



It therefore needed to make 250-300 tonnes of nuclear fuel a year, he said, which would require 500,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium, BBC reported.