Iran reports second mysterious “incident” near nuclear facility

Tehran, Iran – An “incident” damaged a building under construction on Thursday near IranThe Natanz underground nuclear enrichment facility, although it did not affect its centrifugal operations or cause any radiation release, a spokesperson said. The affected building, described as an “industrial shed,” was on the ground and was not part of the enrichment facility itself, said Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization.

The state news agency IRNA quoted Kamalvandi as saying “there was no need to worry” about the incident.

“There is physical and financial damage and we are investigating to assess,” Kamalvandi later told Iranian state television. “Also, there has been no interruption to the enrichment site work. Thank goodness the site continues its work as before.”

However, there was no previously announced construction work at Natanz, a uranium enrichment center some 155 miles south of the capital Tehran. Natanz includes underground facilities buried under about 25 feet of concrete, offering protection against air strikes. The incident also seemed serious enough for both Kamalvandi and Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi to rush Natanz.

Ramazanali Ferdowsi, the governor of the city of Natanz, later described the incident as a “fire”. Ferdowsi said both firefighters and rescue teams were deployed to the site to handle the incident. He did not offer any reason for the fire in his comments reported by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Natanz, also known as the Fuel Enrichment Pilot Plant, is among the sites now monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency after Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. The IAEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident.

Located in the central Isfahan province of Iran, Natanz houses the country’s main uranium enrichment facility. There, centrifuges rapidly spin uranium hexafluoride gas to enrich uranium. Currently, the IAEA says Iran enriches uranium to about 4.5% purity, above the terms of the nuclear deal, but well below the 90% weapon grade levels. It has also conducted tests on advanced centrifuges, according to the IAEA.

The United States under President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal in May 2018, establishing months of tensions between Tehran and Washington. Iran is now breaking all production limits set by the agreement, but it still allows IAEA inspectors and chambers to monitor its nuclear sites.

However, Natanz became a point of controversy last year, as Iranian officials refused to allow an IAEA inspector to enter the facility in October after tests allegedly showed suspicious traces of explosive nitrates. Nitrates are a common fertilizer. However, when mixed with the right amounts of fuel, the material can become as powerful an explosive as TNT. Swab tests, common in airports and other secure facilities, can detect their presence on skin or objects.

Natanz also remains of particular concern to Tehran as it has been the target of sabotage before. The Stuxnet computer virus, widely believed to be an American and Israeli creation, disrupted and destroyed the centrifuges at Natanz amid Western concerns about Iran’s nuclear program.

Satellite photos show an explosion last Friday that rocked Iran’s capital from an area in its eastern mountains that analysts believe is hiding a system of underground tunnels and missile production sites.

Iran attributed the explosion to a gas leak in what it describes as a “public area”.

Last Tuesday, Iranian officials said another explosion, this time at a medical clinic in northern Tehran, left 19 people dead. That explosion was also attributed to a gas leak.