Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant
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Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP, ), officially the Shahid Ali Mohammadi Nuclear Facility (), is an Iranian underground
uranium enrichment Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (23 ...
facility located from the Iranian city of
Qom Qom (; ) is a city in the Central District of Qom County, Qom province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is the seventh largest metropolis and also the seventh largest city in Iran. The city is ...
, at a former
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is a multi-service primary branch of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, Iranian Armed Forces. It was officially established by Ruhollah Khom ...
base. The site is under the control of the
Atomic Energy Organization of Iran The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) is the main Iranian government agency responsible for operating nuclear power, nuclear energy and nuclear fuel cycle installations in Iran. The AEOI is the primary organization responsible for nuclear ...
(AEOI). It is the second Iranian
uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...
enrichment facility, the other being the
Natanz Nuclear Facility The Natanz Nuclear Facility (), officially the Shahid Ahmadi Roshan Nuclear Facilities (), is one of the Nuclear facilities in Iran, nuclear facilities in Iran, which was built near Natanz for Enriched uranium, uranium enrichment. This center is ...
.


Disclosure

Existence of the then-unfinished enrichment plant was disclosed to the
International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology, nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was ...
(IAEA) by Iran on 21 September 2009, but only after the site became known to Western intelligence services. Western officials strongly condemned Iran for not disclosing the site earlier; U.S. president
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
said that Fordow had been under U.S. surveillance. Iran argues that this disclosure was consistent with its legal obligations under its Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA, which Iran claims requires Iran to declare new facilities 180 days before they receive nuclear material. The IAEA stated that Iran was bound by its agreement in 2003 to declare the facility as soon as Iran decided to construct it.


Capacity

In its initial declaration, Iran stated that the purpose of the facility was the production of
uranium hexafluoride Uranium hexafluoride, sometimes called hex, is the inorganic compound with the formula . Uranium hexafluoride is a volatile, white solid that is used in enriching uranium for nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Preparation Uranium dioxide is co ...
(UF6) enriched up to 5%
U-235 Uranium-235 ( or U-235) is an isotope of uranium making up about 0.72% of natural uranium. Unlike the predominant isotope uranium-238, it is fissile, i.e., it can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. It is the only fissile isotope that exists in nat ...
, and that the facility was being built to contain 16 cascades, with a total of approximately 3,000 centrifuges. In September 2011, Iran said it would move its production of 20% LEU to Fordow from Natanz. In December 2011, enrichment started. In January 2012, the IAEA announced that Iran had started producing uranium enriched up to 20% for medical purposes and that material "remains under the agency's containment and surveillance.” Under the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA; (, BARJAM)), also known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, is an agreement to limit the Iranian nuclear program in return for sanctions relief and other provisions. The agreement was finalize ...
of April 2015, the Fordow plant was to be restructured to less intensive research use. The Fordow facility was to stop enriching uranium and researching uranium enrichment for at least 15 years, and the facility was to be converted into a nuclear physics and technology centre. For 15 years, it would maintain no more than 1,044 IR-1 centrifuges in six cascades in one wing of Fordow. "Two of those six cascades will spin without uranium and will be transitioned, including through appropriate infrastructure modification," for stable
radioisotope A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess numbers of either neutrons or protons, giving it excess nuclear energy, and making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ...
production for medical, agricultural, industrial, and scientific use. "The other four cascades with all associated infrastructure will remain idle." Iran is not permitted to have any
fissile material In nuclear engineering, fissile material is material that can undergo nuclear fission when struck by a neutron of low energy. A self-sustaining thermal chain reaction can only be achieved with fissile material. The predominant neutron energy i ...
in Fordow. In 2018, the Israeli company ImageSat published satellite photographs showing renewed construction and development at the Fordow facility. In November 2019, Iranian nuclear chief
Ali Akbar Salehi Ali Akbar Salehi (, ; born 24 March 1949) is an Iranian academic, diplomat and former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, who served in this position from 2009 to 2010 and also from 2013 to 2021. He served for the first time as head ...
announced that Iran would enrich uranium to 5% at Fordow. By January 2020, the Fordow site had 1,044 centrifuges. In January 2021, the Fordow site began to produce uranium enriched to a 20% level. In March 2023,
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
reported that "near bomb-grade" uranium had been found at Fordow. The IAEA confirmed that 83.7% pure U-235 was discovered at Fordow, and that this had been very much a surprise to the agency. In June 2024, the
IAEA The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...
remarked that Iran had built additional centrifuges, while the ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' remarked on the Iranian order to triple the centrifuge capacity of the Fordow plant. The ''
Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Dav ...
'' said that four new cascades had been installed but had not yet been commissioned.


History

Iranian authorities state the facility is built deep in a mountain because of repeated threats by
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
to attack such facilities, which Israel believes can be used to produce
nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...
s. Attacking a nuclear facility so close to the city of
Qom Qom (; ) is a city in the Central District of Qom County, Qom province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is the seventh largest metropolis and also the seventh largest city in Iran. The city is ...
, which is considered holy among
Shia Muslims Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...
, brings concern of a potential risk of a Shiite religious response. In November 2013, hundreds of Iranians, mostly students of
Sharif University of Technology Sharif University of Technology (SUT); (, romanized : Dāneshgāh-e sana'ti-e sharif) is a public research university in Tehran, Iran. It is widely considered to be the nation's most prestigious and leading institution for science, technology ...
, accompanied by the head of AEOI,
Ali Akbar Salehi Ali Akbar Salehi (, ; born 24 March 1949) is an Iranian academic, diplomat and former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, who served in this position from 2009 to 2010 and also from 2013 to 2021. He served for the first time as head ...
, and several
Majles (, pl. ') is an Arabic term meaning 'sitting room', used to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups of administrative, social or religious nature in countries with linguistic or cultural connections to the Mus ...
(parliament) representatives formed a human chain around the Fordow uranium enrichment facility. The students were there to show their support for the Iranian nuclear program. In 2016, Iran stationed anti-aircraft
S-300 missile system The S-300 (NATO reporting name SA-10 Grumble) is a series of long-range surface-to-air missile systems developed by the former Soviet Union. It was produced by NPO Almaz for the Soviet Air Defence Forces to defend against air raids and cruise ...
s at the site. In February 2023, the
IAEA The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...
remarked that the Fordow plant had changed.


2025 Israeli airstrikes

On 13 June 2025, Israel attacked the plant as part of
June 2025 Israeli strikes on Iran June is the sixth and current month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars—the latter the most widely used calendar in the world. Its length is 30 days. June succeeds May and precedes July. This month marks the start of summe ...
. Iranian forces said they had shot down an Israeli drone.David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina
Damage to Iranian nuclear sites so far appears limited, experts say
Reuters (June 13, 2025).
The extent of the damage was unclear because Fordow nuclear facility, like the Natanz facility, is buried deep underground.Karen DeYoung, Nilo Tabrizy, Evan Hill & Warren P. Strobel
Iran's nuclear facilities damaged but not destroyed, experts say
''Washington Post'' (June 13, 2025).
Satellite imagery and reports suggested that some above-ground sites at Fordow and Natanz were damaged, but the subterranean facilities that house centrifuges and enriched uranium were not breached. On 14 June 2025, the
Atomic Energy Organization of Iran The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) is the main Iranian government agency responsible for operating nuclear power, nuclear energy and nuclear fuel cycle installations in Iran. The AEOI is the primary organization responsible for nuclear ...
stated that there had been limited damage to the site as a result of the strikes.


References


External links

*David Albright, Frank Pabian, and Andrea Stricker
The Fordow Enrichment Plant, aka Al Ghadir: Iran’s Nuclear Archive Reveals Site Originally Purposed to Produce Weapon-Grade Uranium for 1–2 Nuclear Weapons per Year
– Institute for Science and International Security, March 13, 2019 {{coord, 34.8845, N, 50.9981, E, source:wikidata, display=title Nuclear facilities Industrial buildings in Iran Uranium Isotope separation facilities Buildings and structures in Qom province Nuclear program of Iran Subterranean buildings and structures Nuclear facilities in Iran