Other Names: Yellow Cake Plant
Location: Yazd Provice
Subordinate to: AEOI
Size: Pilot scale
Primary Function: Yellow cake production

Description:

In February and May 2003, Iranian officials reported on Iran's plan to mine uranium ore and produce yellowcake at a facility in Ardakan. The facility is probably the pilot plant built in 1992 at the BHRC. The pilot plant was developed to determine the operational parameters and technical characteristics for designing a larger facility in the future. The plant is most likely in operation, although there is currently no information verifying that assumption. In late February 2003, Mr. Aghazehey, an AEOI official, stated that the plant would begin producing uranium gas within "two to three months."

Key Sources:
[1] "Iran Nuclear Update, 2003," The Risk Report, Volume 9, Number 5, September-October 2003.
[2] Vasily Lata and Anton Khlopkov, "Iran's Missile and Nuclear Challenge: A Conundrum for Russia," The Center for Policy Studies in Russia (PIR), 8 May 2003 http://www.pircenter.org/report/lata_05-08-2003.pdf.

	Updated January 2006