The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it would deploy a new 24/7 high-tech monitoring device to monitor uranium enrichment activities at the Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant in Iran.
The device, which is placed around processing pipes, would help assure the world that Iran is complying with its commitments spelled out in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed by the so-called E3/EU Plus 3 nations – representing China, France, Germany, the United States, Britain, Russia and the European Union – the IAEA said.
The device measures the amount of uranium-235 that flows through pipes at key measuring points. It measures pressure and temperature in the pipes. “The components of the online enrichment monitor are placed into a sealed, temper-indicating device,” the IAEA explained.
The IAEA has declared Iran compliant with the initial stipulations in the JCPOA, which allow for economic sanctions against the country to be lifted. The country has shipped 25,000 pounds of low-enriched uranium to Russia, and removed centrifuge equipment from processing plants at Natanz and Fordow. It has also removed the core from the Arak heavy water reactor, which has been further disabled by inserting concrete into key calandria portals.
The IAEA said the Online Enrichment Monitor or OLEM would verify that Iran would keep enrichment at up to 3.67 percent, as stipulated in the JCPOA. “The agreed limitations on all uranium enrichment and related activities, including on specific Research and Development activities, will allow Iran to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes,” said IAEA Iran Task Force director Massimo Aparo.
The monitor will measure the amount of uranium-235 and the total amount of uranium processed through the gas centrifuge at the Natanz facility, which does previous sampling methodology one better by allowing for 24/7 monitoring.
Previous sampling methodology could also take three weeks or longer to reach any conclusions with the bulk of that time taken up by shipping samples from Iran to Austria, where the IAEA is headquartered. But the real-time results of the OLEM device will be backed up by traditional sampling methods to ensure accurate information, said Aparo.
Specifically, the monitor “measures the characteristics of gaseous uranium – UF6 – flowing through the processing pipes out of the cascade of centrifuges of the enrichment plant. In each unit of the equipment, the main connection node, a gamma ray detector based on a sodium iodide crystal, measures the amount of U-235 in the pipe, while pressure and temperature sensors enable the machine to determine the total quantity of gaseous uranium,” the agency explained.
From the two measurements, the device calculates enrichment levels. OLEM can be installed on ingoing and outgoing processing pipes, the IAEA said.