Images of work at Iran uranium plant

SATELLITE images show buildings have been razed and bulldozers were at work at an underground structure near a site where Iran processes uranium, a US-based think-tank said yesterday, without offering an explanation.

The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said it had studied satellite photographs of a nuclear site near the Iranian city of Isfahan, after reports two weeks ago that an explosion could be heard in the city.

It found no evidence of damage from an explosion at the nuclear site, but signs of construction work at a site 400 metres away that showed a “significant transformation”.

The Isfahan site produces uranium gas which can be fed into centrifuges elsewhere to produce the purified uranium needed to run a power plant or make a bomb. Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful.

On November 28, Iranian media reported that an explosion could be heard in Isfahan. In conflicting reports, the head of the provincial judiciary was quoted as saying a blast could be heard, but the deputy governor denied there had been a big explosion.

ISIS said it had acquired satellite imagery of the Isfahan nuclear site taken in early December.

“There does not appear to be any visible evidence of an explosion, such as building damage or debris, on the grounds of the known nuclear facilities or at the tunnel facility directly north of the uranium conversion facility,” it said.

It said, however, it identified a facility about 400 metres from the perimeter of the nuclear site that “underwent a significant transformation recently”.

“It is unclear how and why the buildings are no longer present at the site,” it added.

ISIS said the underground facility was originally a salt mine dating back to at least the 1980s. It was lately used for storage, though it is unclear what was kept there.

The report of the blast in Isfahan came less than three weeks after a massive explosion at a military base near Tehran that killed more than a dozen Revolutionary Guards including the head of its missile forces.

Iran said that explosion, which could be heard as far away as the capital, was caused by an accident while weapons were being moved.