Uranium

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Iran plans to install tens of thousands of advanced centrifuges at its huge underground nuclear plant near the central city of Natanz, which eventually would enable it to enrich uranium nearly twice as fast as anticipated, according to Western intelligence officials. Iran's timetable remains unknown, but the officials said preparatory work is under way at the plant, and the decision to rely on the superior type of centrifuge suggests Iran could manufacture fissile material for a possible weapon sooner than expected.

WASHINGTON - The World War II Allies defeated a common foe by harnessing two apparently conflicting forces: international cooperation and national self-interest. As world leaders gather in Moscow to commemorate the victory over Nazism, they should apply this lesson to repair a dysfunctional relationship. Three years ago, President Bush and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin began the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, seeking to devote $20 billion over 10 years to dismantle many of the world's most dangerous weapons.

In The Region Angelina's eatery of crab cake fame on the auction block Angelina's, a Northeast Baltimore restaurant known for its crab cakes, is going on the auction block at 1 p.m. April 25, according to Alex Cooper Auctioneers. The land, building, liquor license and recently remodeled restaurant at 7153 Harford Road all will be sold on the premises. The Italian and seafood restaurant, opened in 1952 in a rowhouse, has maintained its reputation in the city as a place to go for jumbo crab cakes through three sets of owners.

PARIS - The International Atomic Energy Agency adopted a resolution yesterday welcoming Iran's promised suspension of its nuclear program but said it would continue to monitor Iran's activities. The resolution came after Iran backed off Sunday from a demand to operate uranium enrichment equipment that could be used either for energy purposes or in a nuclear bomb-making project. The board of the IAEA, the United Nations nuclear monitoring body based in Vienna, Austria, approved the resolution, which recognizes that Iran's suspension of sensitive nuclear activities was "a voluntary, confidence-building measure, not a legal obligation," according to a copy of the resolution posted on the agency's Web site.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's foreign minister said yesterday that Iran had every right to keep, for research purposes, some centrifuges that could be used to enrich uranium, an indication that a standoff on the country's nuclear program may not be easily resolved. "Iran's demand to keep 20 centrifuges is not against its commitments," said the minister, Kamal Kharrazi, the IRNA news agency reported. In talks in Paris with Britain, Germany and France, Iran agreed Nov. 15 to freeze all its nuclear activities.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Authorities pursuing traffickers in nuclear weapons technology recently uncovered an audacious scheme to deliver a complete uranium enrichment plant to Libya, documents and interviews show. The discovery provides fresh evidence of the reach and sophistication of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's global black market in nuclear know-how and equipment. It also exposes a previously undetected South African branch of the Khan network. The startling dimensions of the plot began to emerge in September, when police raided a factory outside Johannesburg.

PARIS - After two days of intense talks in Paris over Iran's uranium enrichment program, "considerable progress" had been made in reaching a provisional agreement for France, Britain, Germany and the European Union to offer incentives in return for Tehran's halting production, Iranian officials and Heve Ladsous, the French Foreign Ministry spokesman, said yesterday. Officials stressed that the agreement had not yet been formally accepted by Iran and that the Iranian delegation would have to return home for consultations.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran is prepared to reject an offer to be made today by European countries aimed at defusing mounting tension over its nuclear program. Hossein Mousavian, the chief Iranian delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in an interview yesterday with Knight Ridder that the expected deal - nuclear fuel and economic incentives in exchange for Iran abandoning uranium enrichment - would be unacceptable. Mousavian said Iran was prepared to guarantee it would never produce or use nuclear weapons, but it would never give up its right to enrich uranium for nuclear energy as the United States and its European allies are demanding.

SEOUL, South Korea - The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency is investigating an incident in which South Korean scientists at a large government research institute secretly experimented with highly enriched uranium, nuclear material that could be used in making a bomb. Although only a minuscule amount of uranium was involved, the revelation could prove highly embarrassing to South Korea and highly awkward for the United States as it wrestles with the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran.

MADISON, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin's nuclear reactor is an unassuming little model, operated (on Tuesdays and Thursdays only) by students in T-shirts and shorts. In the past few months, it has been used to identify the source of pottery shards from an ancient settlement in India and to test whether heart stents work better if they have been irradiated. But its fuel is weapons-grade uranium. If it were stolen, experts say, it could give terrorists or other criminals a major head start on an atomic bomb.