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Group: Iran may be expanding nuclear plants
 Iran's Natanz nuclear complex is about 300 kilometers south of the capital. RELATEDYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSWASHINGTON (CNN) -- Commercial satellite photos indicate Iran has begun to expand its nuclear fuel plants and has buried one beneath dozens of feet of earth and concrete, a U.S.-based nuclear watchdog group reports. Analysts for the Institute for Science and International Security spotted what they said were new tunnel entrances at both the Isfahan uranium conversion plant and the Natanz uranium enrichment plant, according to a report released over the weekend. That work "is indicative of a new underground facility or the further expansion of the existing one," the group reported. The institute, led by former United Nations nuclear inspector David Albright, has been monitoring satellite imagery of Iran's nuclear research sites for several years. Iran is still believed to be a decade away from producing enough enriched uranium to run a nuclear power station, the group reported. The Esfahan plant, located about 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of Tehran, produces uranium hexafluoride gas that can be fed into centrifuges set to be installed at the Natanz facility, about 300 kilometers south of the capital. Iran's pursuit of uranium enrichment has put it at odds with U.S. and European governments, which fear the program could be used to produce nuclear weapons. Iran says it does not want to produce a nuclear bomb but has a right to pursue nuclear energy under the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty. The U.N. Security Council has called on Iran to halt uranium enrichment work, and the diplomatic confrontation has led to media reports that the United States and Israel have drawn up plans to bomb Iran's nuclear research plants -- reports President Bush dismissed as "wild speculation" last week. (Full story) An article in the April 17 edition of The New Yorker magazine said that U.S. military officials have been asked to examine the use of nuclear weapons against Iran's underground nuclear facilities. (Full story) U.S. officials say they are focused on using diplomatic means to resolve the conflict with Iran. A string of pictures from September 2002 through March 2006 show the halls that are expected to house banks of centrifuges at the Natanz plant have been buried gradually beneath slabs of concrete and layers of earth. The roofs of the tunnels are now estimated to be about 17 meters (55 feet) underground, the institute reported. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced last week that his country had produced a small amount of enriched uranium at Natanz in concentrations capable of running a nuclear power plant -- a level far below that needed for a nuclear weapon. The pilot program at Natanz used a cascade of 164 centrifuges, Iranian officials said. Tens of thousands of centrifuges are needed to produce enough enriched uranium to produce fuel for a reactor or for nuclear weapons, and Albright's institute concluded that Iran remained "well over a decade" away from being able to produce enough fuel for its Russian-built power plant at Bushehr. 
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