Iran has "almost completed preparations" to start enriching uranium to 60% purity at an above-ground plant at Natanz and plans to add 1,024 first-generation IR-1 centrifuges underground there, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday.
"The Agency today verified that Iran had almost completed preparations to start producing UF6 enriched up to 60% U-235 at the Natanz Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement, referring to uranium hexafluoride, the form in which uranium is fed into centrifuges for enrichment.