Iran Investigating Electrical ‘Accident’ at Natanz Nuclear Facility
Iran’s Natanz underground nuclear site has experienced problems with its electrical distribution grid. The electrical problems announced in state media on Sunday come a day after the plant started operating new advanced nuclear centrifuges that are able to enrich uranium faster, a further breach of the 2015 nuclear deal.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, announced the malfunction on State television on Sunday morning. He told the official Fars news agency that there were no injuries or release of dangerous pollution as a result of the incident. He said that the cause of the malfunction is under investigation. An attack in July on an advanced centrifuge development and assembly plant at Natanz was blamed on Israel.
Iranian President Hasan Rouhani on Saturday inaugurated the some 164 IR-6 centrifuges at the plant, where they were injected with uranium gas and began operating. Officials also began testing the IR-9 centrifuge, which they say will enrich uranium 50 times faster. The new operations come a day after Iranian officials met in Vienna with representatives of the world powers to discuss coming back into compliance with the nuclear deal.