More advanced equipment to replace damaged part of Iran n-site

Tehran, July 6 A new and more advanced structure will be built at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility to replace the one damaged in a recent fire "incident", a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said on Monday.

"Necessary arrangements have been made to rebuild the damaged shed at Shahid Ahmadi Roshan (Natanz) nuclear facility and a bigger shed with more advanced equipment is to replace it," the spokesman, Behrouz Kamalvandi said.

More centrifuge machines were supposed to be produced at the damaged shed, Kamalvandi said, adding that parts of measurement and precision tools in the shed were destroyed and damaged in the "incident", reports Xinhua news agency

The "incident" has not caused hindrance in Iran's enrichment work, although it may slow down development and manufacture of advanced machines in the medium term, he said.

"We would make up for this slowdown through round-the-clock work and diligent efforts of our colleagues at the organization."

On July 2, Iran announced that the fire at the Natanz nuclear facility caused no damage to the establishment, but it affected one of the structures for storing stock items.

The next day, Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) saidthat the country's experts had determined the main cause of "incident" and would announce it at an "appropriate time".

Natanz, located some 250 km south of Tehran, includes underground facilities buried under some 25 feet of concrete, which offers protection from airstrikes.

The facility is a Fuel Enrichment Plant covering 100,000 square meters.

( With inputs from IANS )