Iran installing advanced nuclear machines for testing

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Iran installing advanced nuclear machines for testing

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Iran is stepping up centrifuge development work to make its nuclear enrichment more efficient.

16 July,2011 12:51 pm

According to the Western diplomats, two newer and more advanced models of the breakdown-prone machine that Iran now operates to refine uranium are being installed for large-scale testing at a research site near the central town of Natanz.If Iran eventually succeeds in introducing the more modern centrifuges for production, it could significantly shorten the time needed to stockpile material that can have civilian as well as military purposes, if processed much further, the diplomats added.But it is unclear whether Tehran, subject to increasingly strict international sanctions, has the means and components to make the more sophisticated machines in bigger numbers.Iran denies Western accusations it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons and says it is refining uranium for electricity generation and medical applications.