Yahoo! Japan News: Official commentator Nobumasa Akiyama’s comment on “‘No Stockpile’ of Uranium Enriched Beyond 80%: IAEA Agrees with Iran to Strengthen Monitoring” [in Japanese]

On March 6, 2023, Yahoo! Japan published an official comment by Professor Nobumasa Akiyama, dean of Hitotsubashi University School of International and Public Policy and GGR researcher. Professor Akiyama commented on the article “‘No Stockpile’ of Uranium Enriched Beyond 80%: IAEA Agrees with Iran to Strengthen Monitoring,” written on the previous day of March 5th and released by Jiji Press. The article reported that the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi recently visited Iran and denied reports that uranium particles with an enrichment rate of 83.7% had been detected in a nuclear facility in Fordo, located in central Iran. Professor Akiyama commented that there have been signs that the centrifuge cascades in the Fordo nuclear facility had been rearranged and due to this there still remains room for skepticism regarding Grossi’s statement. He mentioned that since most of the Western countries remain focused on the war in Ukraine, it remains unknown how much spotlight this topic would receive at the next IAEA board meeting. However, the professor stressed the need to consider the fact that uranium with relatively high enrichment levels has been accumulated to a considerable degree in Iran.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/profile/commentator/akiyamanobumasa/comments/16779951887443.a90f.00046