TEHRAN - The director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has announced that the transfer of centrifuges from the Natanz nuclear site to the Fordo enrichment facility, located near Qom, has started. 

“Centrifuges are being transferred from the Natanz (nuclear) site to the Fordo facility with the full observation of standards,” IAEO Director Fereydoun Abbasi said on Monday. 

“The Fordo facility is being completed and a number of centrifuges have been transferred to the facility,” he stated. 

“We will not work hastily and will try to observe the highest technical standards,” he added.

In June, Abbasi announced that Iran plans to install the first cascade of a new generation of centrifuges at the Fordo enrichment facility in the near future. 

He also said that the AEOI plans to transfer the production of uranium enriched to a purity level of 20 percent from Natanz to the Fordo enrichment facility under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency and to triple the production of 20 percent enriched uranium. 

In addition, he said that enrichment to the 20 percent level will not be halted at the Natanz enrichment facility until the Iranian experts confirm that the production of 20 percent enriched uranium has completely been transferred to Fordo and the level of production has increased threefold. 

Iran has said that the Fordo nuclear site will be dedicated to the production of 20 percent enriched uranium, which is needed to produce the nuclear fuel plates for the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.