Vienna - Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) it is building a second, previously unknown, uranium enrichment plant, after finding out that Western intelligence agencies knew about the project, diplomats in Vienna said Friday. Until now the international community was only aware of the operating enrichment plant in Natanz, which some countries fear could one day be used to make material for nuclear arms.
The facility is located near Qom, a town south of Tehran, a diplomat briefed on the intelligence said, and is big enough to house 3,000 centrifuges.
"That is what is needed to make (material for) a bomb a year, but not enough for a nuclear reactor," he said.
Tehran maintains that it is enriching uranium only as fuel for nuclear electricity generation.
The revelation came as Britain, China, Germany, France, Russia and the United States were preparing for talks with Iran in Geneva on October 1 that are also touch on Iran's controversial nuclear programme.
The information about the Qom site was contained in a letter sent Monday to the Vienna-based IAEA, according to several diplomats and officials.
It did not contain information about the location of the new plant, nor about how far advanced the project is.
However, the diplomat briefed on the intelligence said it seemed that no technical equipment for enrichment had been installed at the new plant, and that it was unlikely to start operating before next year.
Another diplomat said it seemed Iran would need at least 6 months to start running the facility.
An unnamed source confirmed the existence of the second uranium-enrichment plant to Iran's ISNA news agency and said it was similar to the facility in Natanz in central Iran.
Under IAEA regulations, Tehran is obliged to inform the nuclear agency about such projects as soon as a decision is taken to build it.
The United Nations Security Council has applied three rounds of sanctions on Iran in an unsuccessful effort to get the country to stop its enrichment activities.
An IAEA spokesperson did not comment on the revelation.
