All centrifuges at Iran’s main enrichment plant likely ‘severely damaged’ – IAEA chief

It is very likely all the roughly 15,000 centrifuges operating at Iran’s biggest uranium enrichment plant at Natanz were badly damaged or destroyed because of a power cut caused by an Israeli strike, the UN nuclear watchdog chief told the BBC on Monday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency and its Director General Rafael Grossi had previously said the centrifuges at the underground enrichment plant at Natanz may have been damaged as a result of an airstrike on its power supply, even though the hall housing the plant itself did not seem to have been hit.

“Our assessment is that with this sudden loss of external power, in great probability the centrifuges have been severely damaged if not destroyed altogether,” Grossi said in an interview with the BBC.

“I think there has been damage inside,” he said, going further than in an update to an exceptional meeting of his agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors hours earlier.

Power cuts pose a threat to the fragile, finely balanced machines that spin at extremely high speeds.

Earlier on Monday, Grossi told the IAEA board that there was a possibility of both radiological and chemical contamination within the Natanz facility.

The radiation caused by the damage posed a significant danger if uranium is inhaled or ingested, he said, but the risk could be effectively managed with appropriate protective measures, such as using respiratory protection devices while inside the facilities.

“The level of radioactivity outside the Natanz site has remained unchanged and at normal levels, indicating no external radiological impact to the population or the environment from this event,” he said.

Israel bombed Natanz early Friday during the first wave of major strikes that started its shock campaign against Iranian military and nuclear sites, in a move it says was needed to thwart an immediate existential nuclear threat.

Israel’s airstrikes have put at least two of Iran’s three operating uranium enrichment plants out of action.

Grossi told the board no damage was seen at the separate Fordo enrichment plant dug deep into a mountain, later telling the BBC: “There is very limited, if any, damage registered [there].”

While the IAEA has not been able to carry out inspections since the attacks, it makes extensive use of satellite imagery.

Grossi elaborated on the damage to four buildings at the Isfahan nuclear complex, including a uranium-conversion facility that turns “yellowcake” uranium into uranium hexafluoride, the feedstock for centrifuges, so it can be enriched to higher fissile purity.

“Four buildings were damaged in Friday’s attack: the central chemical laboratory, a uranium conversion plant, the Tehran reactor fuel manufacturing plant, and the UF4 [uranium tetrafluoride] to EU [enriched uranium] metal processing facility, which was under construction,” he said.

Grossi later went further, telling the BBC: “In Isfahan you have underground spaces as well, which do not seem to have been affected.”

A senior diplomat told Reuters that those underground spaces are where much of Iran’s most highly enriched uranium stock is stored, but it will require closer examination to fully assess the situation there.

Grossi has urged Iran to provide “timely and regular technical information” about the state of its nuclear facilities, warning that without information, the UN watchdog “cannot accurately assess the radiological conditions and potential impacts on the population and the environment and cannot provide the necessary assistance.”

Grossi said that UN inspectors would remain present in Iran and inspect the nuclear facilities “as soon as safety conditions allow.”

Years of hostility between Israel and Iran exploded into open conflict early Friday morning when Israel launched a major offensive against Iran, hitting nuclear sites and scientists, missile bases and top military officials.

Israel said it had no choice but to attack Iran, and that it had gathered intelligence showing Tehran was approaching “the point of no return” in its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Iran, in retaliation, has launched some 350 ballistic missiles at Israel since Friday, the vast majority of which were intercepted, according to IDF statistics released Monday.

In all, 24 people have been killed in Iran’s ballistic missile attacks, and hundreds more have been wounded.

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