Iran reportedly to upgrade nuclear enrichment centrifuges

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, 217 miles south of Tehran, on April 8, 2008. Presidential official website/Reuters

Iran will upgrade the nuclear enrichment equipment at its Natanz nuclear plant.

Iran informed the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, that it will use a new model of centrifuge in a unit at its underground facility located southeast of Tehran, according to the New York Times.

The upgraded equipment will allow Iran to refine uranium faster. Natanz currently enriches uranium to 4 percent purity. Another plant, Fordow, takes the uranium from Natanz and enriches it to 20 percent purity, which can be used to fuel a research reactor in Tehran.

One unit at a nuclear plant can house up to 3,000 centrifuges.

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful, domestic uses, while Western countries believe it is working to create a nuclear weapon.