DOE announces centrifuge removal from Fordow facility on anniversary of the Iran Nuclear Deal

On the one year anniversary of the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that Iran had removed excess centrifuges and infrastructure from the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.

“The JCPOA is grounded in strong technical analysis provided by DOE scientists, including at our national laboratories, and supported by unprecedented IAEA verification measures,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said. “The JCPOA’s verification measures ensure that the Fordow materials and all others covered by the JCPOA will remain under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitoring. One year after implementation day, the Iran nuclear deal is working, increasing regional and global security.”

The JCPOA was agreed to last January between Iran and China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. As part of the agreement, the IAEA board of governors implemented verification and monitoring of Iran’s nuclei-related commitments, sometimes called transparency measures.

IAEA experts were given enhanced access to uranium mines and mills, and surveilled all of Iran’s centrifuge manufacturing and storage location to ensure JCPOA compliance.

Prior to the JCPOA’s implementation last year, Iran was required to ship out 25,000 pounds of enriched uranium, dismantle two-thirds of its centrifuges and render its plutonium reactor inoperable as part of preparatory measures.