Iran has started enriching uranium in a second network of centrifuges, Iran's student news agency ISNA reported on Friday. ISNA quoted an "informed source" as saying "the injection of gas was carried out" in the past week. "We have obtained the product of the second cascade," the source said.
Uranium hexaflouride, or UF6, is a gas that is injected into cylindrical centrifuges which spin at supersonic speeds to produce enriched material. The process can make fuel for power plants or material for atomic bombs depending on the level of purity.
President Bush said in Washington that he was aware of "speculation" that Iran has started enriching uranium in a second network of centrifuges. "Whether they doubled it or not, the idea of Iran having a nuclear weapon is unacceptable," Bush said.
Sean McCormack, spokesman for the State Department, told he press today that the report, if true, "would simply underscore the fact that we need to move forward in the coming days and weeks on a strong resolution that imposes sanctions on Iran with the goal in mind that Iran would choose a pathway of negotiation in order to realize its goals, and so the international community can reassure itself and be assured that Iran is not pursuing a nuclear weapon under cover of a civilian nuclear program."
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