Iran"s nuclear chief has said that Iran...

Under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors Iran started on Tuesday injecting gas into a cascade of centrifuges to enrich uranium to the purity level of 20% to produce fuel for its Tehran research reactor.

"Once Iranian experts enrich uranium to the purity level of 20%, they will turn it into fuel plates at Isfahan"s Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) and the plates will then be sent to Tehran to be used in the research reactor," head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi said on Wednesday.

"The 20-percent enriched uranium will be for domestic use," he said, dismissing speculations that Iran could export the excess nuclear fuel.

Salehi said Iran was capable of producing up to 5 kg of nuclear fuel monthly, while the Tehran research reactor needs only 1.5 kg fuel each month.

According to various sources, the Islamic Republic has over 8,000 centrifuges and has amassed about 1.8 tons of low-enriched

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