1. This report of the Director General to the Board of Governors and, in parallel, to the United Nations Security Council (Security Council), is on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s (Iran’s) implementation of its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in relation to its enrichment-related activities. It provides an update on developments since the Director General’s previous report.

Activities Related to Enrichment

2. As previously reported, Iran has informed the Agency that there are three possible modes of operation for the six IR-1 cascades (configured as individual cascades or as three sets of two interconnected cascades) and two IR-6 cascades installed at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), as follows:

(i) up to eight cascades are fed with natural UF6 to produce UF6 enriched up to 5% U-235;

(ii) up to eight cascades are fed with UF6 enriched up to 5% U-235 to produce UF6 enriched up to 20% U-235; or

(iii) the two IR-6 cascades are fed with natural UF6 to produce UF6 enriched up to 5% U-235, which is then either fed into the IR-1 cascades configured as sets of two interconnected cascades to produce UF6 enriched up to 20% U-235 or collected using a separate product withdrawal line. 

As recently reported, on 31 August 2022, the Agency verified that Iran was using the second mode of operation (ii) outlined above. On 2 October 2022, the Agency verified at FFEP that Iran had switched to the third mode of operation. Iran was feeding the two IR-6 cascades with natural UF6 to produce UF6 enriched up to 5% U-235, which was then fed into one of the three sets of two interconnected IR-1 cascades to produce UF6 enriched up to 20% U-235. The other two sets of two interconnected IR-1 cascades continued to produce UF6 enriched up to 20% U-235 using a separate feed of UF6 enriched up to 5% U-235.