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Published online 13 April 2006 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news060410-10
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Iran takes steps to go nuclear
On Tuesday 11 April, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that his country had successfully enriched uranium. News@nature.com puts his statement in context.
What exactly does Iran claim to have done?
Iran claims to have processed a small amount of uranium so that it can be used in a power reactor; they say they have enriched the fissile uranium-235 isotope of their material to 3.5%. The same process could in theory be used to make a nuclear weapon, but this would need material to be enriched to more than 80%.
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