ran's key nuclear sites
Arak - Heavy water plant
Iran is building a reactor at Arak, where it already has a heavy-water production plant Heavy water is used to moderate the nuclear fission chain reaction either in a certain type of reactor - albeit not the type that Iran is currently building - or produce plutonium for use in a nuclear bomb.
In August 2010, the IAEA visited the IR-40 heavy water reactor site at Arak. It said the facility was still being built but some major equipment had been installed. Iran told the IAEA the operation of the reactor was planned to start in 2013.
The IAEA said that based on satellite imagery, the heavy water production plant appeared to be in operation, but had not had access to it to confirm such reports.
Bushehr - Nuclear power station
The reactor building at Bushehr was built with Russian help The project was abandoned because of the Islamic revolution five years later, but revived in the 1990s when Tehran signed an agreement with Russia to resume work at the site.
Moscow delayed completion on the project while the UN Security Council debated and then passed resolutions aimed at stopping uranium enrichment in Iran.
In December 2007, Moscow started delivering the canisters of enriched uranium the plant needs.
Earlier in the same month, a US intelligence report said Iran was not currently running a military nuclear programme.
There are two pressurised water reactors at the site.
Satellite images from March 2010 show the first completed reactor building on a site that occupies 2.5 square kilometres (one square mile), about 17 km (11 miles) south of the city of Bushehr. Recent developments include a narrow channel to carry cooling water for the reactor from the Gulf.
Gachin - Uranium mine
Yellowcake is used in the preparation of fuel for nuclear reactors Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the first batch of yellowcake had been sent from Gachin mine sent to the Isfahan conversion facility.
Mining operations started at the mine in 2004.
Iran was believed to be running low on its stock of yellowcake, originally imported from South Africa in the 1970s.
Isfahan- Uranium conversion plant
Men making hexafluoride gas at the Isfahan uranium conversion facility - Hexafluoride gas - used in gas centrifuges
- Uranium oxide - used to fuel reactors, albeit not the type Iran is constructing
- Metal - often used in the cores of nuclear bombs. The IAEA is concerned about the metal's use, as Iran's reactors do not require it as fuel.
Natanz - Uranium enrichment plant
Iran is planning new facilities at Natanz It announced in September 2007 that it had installed 3,000 centrifuges, the machines that do the enrichment. In 2010, Iran told the IAEA Natanz would be the venue for new enrichment facilities - construction of which would start around March 2011.
This is the facility at the heart of Iran's dispute with the United Nations Security Council.
The Council is concerned because the technology used for producing fuel for nuclear power can be used to enrich the uranium to a much higher level to produce a nuclear explosion.
Qom - Uranium enrichment plant
IAEA says work started on Qom site earlier than Iran suggests The facility is believed to be on a mountain on a former Iranian Revolutionary Guards missile site to the north-east of Qom on the Qom-Aliabad highway, Western diplomatic sources say.
Iran said it began the project in 2007 - but the IAEA believes design work started there in 2006.
The IAEA said it expected the Qom site to start enriching uranium in 2011. It is believed to have facility for 3,000 centrifuges for the enrichment of uranium.
Iran wrote to the International Atomic Energy Agency saying it intended to build a plant to enrich uranium to 5% - not enough for a weapon.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11927720
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