Iran's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi announced on Tuesday that Tehran has started to produce 20 percent enriched uranium at its Natanz plant, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"From today we have started the 20 percent enrichment in a separate cascade in Natanz," Salehi said, quoted by IRNA.
Salehi said the separate cascade was "more on a lab scale".
"We have prepared a cascade of 164 centrifuges for this purpose. This can make between three to five kilogrammes (6.5 to 11 pounds) of 20 percent enriched uranium per month for Tehran reactor," he said.
The production is "twice our need for Tehran reactor which needs 1.5 kilogrammes," he added.
The Islamic republic has previously been conducting low level enrichment of uranium in the central city of Natanz for several years, in defiance of three sets of UN sanctions.
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