FDD proposes sending enriched Iranian uranium to Kazakhstan

A new policy brief by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) states that the handling of Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium will be a central issue in any long-term agreement between the United States and Iran. 

The authors of the document warn that diluting uranium on-site would entail significant risks in terms of nuclear proliferation, Caliber.Az reports, citing FDD.

The brief notes that the “downblending” (reducing the level of enrichment) of uranium inside Iran is a reversible process and would allow Tehran to retain access to material that could later be re-enriched. It also adds that even dilution to low enrichment levels would preserve Iran’s significant breakout capability and could make the material vulnerable to concealment or seizure.

“The safest option is the immediate destruction of the material upon retrieval. The next most favorable option is packaging and exporting it to the IAEA fuel bank in Kazakhstan for safekeeping. From there, the IAEA could authorize limited transfers of the material to Russia, which already fabricates fuel rods for Iran’s Bushehr reactor, based on Iran’s legitimate civil needs such as Tehran’s remaining research and power reactors,” the report states.