Stop Fundamentalism Special Report
Tehran, Feb 1, 2006 (Stop Fundamentalism) – Tehran has successfully procured two types of equipment, the Hot Isostatic Press and the Hot Press, to shape enriched uranium as part of nuclear weapons production at the “Materials and Energy Research Centre†(Pazhuheshgah-e Mavad va Enerzhi.)
The MERC site, located on the edge of Meshkin-Dasht near Karaj, forty kilometres west of the Iranian capital, was operating under the cover of a scientific and industrial research centre affiliated to the Ministry of Science and is run under the direction of Dr. Fatollah Moztarzadeh.
The machines are able to simultaneously use pressure and heat to produce uranium spheres for production of nuclear bomb. The combination of pressure and heat allows the metal to melt at low temperatures.
According to reports Iran had also managed to refurbish and bring back into use a U.S.-made machine purchased some 30 years ago.
Sources say that presently five more Hot Press machines were being manufactured at the site.
