Satellite images may reveal Iran trying to recover material from bombed nuclear sites
CBC
Satellite images showing recent activity around two Iranian nuclear sites bombed last year by Israel and the U.S. suggest Iran may be trying to recover materials from the area.
But experts say that, whatever salvage operations Iran is undertaking, there has been no significant recovery for its nuclear program since the attacks.
There has been some rehabilitation after the damage the U.S caused, but "there haven't been any indicators of significant resumption of work," said Joseph Rodgers, deputy director and fellow with the Project on Nuclear Issues at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
"There are no scientists going in and working significantly at these sites. There's not a lot of activity. And what activity we do see is not significant in a nuclear program."
New satellite images from Earth-imaging company Planet Labs PBC show roofs have been built over two damaged buildings at the Isfahan and Natanz facilities. It’s the first major activity visible by satellite at any of the country’s stricken nuclear sites since Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June.
The Natanz site, about 220 kilometres south of the capital, is a mix of above- and below-ground laboratories that carried out the majority of Iran’s uranium enrichment.
At this site, images show that Iran covered the anti-drone cage of the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant with a panel roof, said Spencer Faragasso, a senior fellow with the Institute for Science and International Security.
"We assessed that this was done to basically hide activities that they're doing inside. To block out peering eyes as part of a salvaging and recovery operation," he said.
Faragasso said Iran is likely looking for any material or equipment that survived the attacks, including any highly enriched uranium that could be recovered.
The second site, outside the city of Isfahan, was mainly known for producing the uranium gas fed into centrifuges for enrichment.
A Jan. 29 report co-written by Faragasso for the Institute said satellite images show vehicle activity on the road leading to tunnel entrances at the complex has “increased notably.”
The report, based on satellite images, said that most recent activity appeared related to re-burying the southernmost and the middle entrances with soil.
The report said a new roof built on the surviving steel framework of a destroyed building could indicate Iran had decided the structure was worth preserving and that the work could be related to centrifuge manufacturing.
Faragasso told CBC News the activity appears to be "another effort to recover leftover equipment to try to potentially reconstitute an enrichment capability."
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