President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim that Iran was capable of enriching uranium on an industrial scale was greeted with scepticism yesterday. Industrial scale is shorthand for 3,000 centrifuges, linked up and spinning uranium hexafluoride gas at supersonic speeds continuously. The consensus is that Iran would be lucky to have a third of that number of centrifuges working properly. Experts also doubt whether continuous operation has been achieved - another key part of the calculation. Three thousand centrifuges operating smoothly in tandem would produce enough enriched uranium to produce one bomb in a year. Yesterday two UN inspectors arrived at Natanz, the plant where the enrichment is taking place, and will report back to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. The inspectors will eventually get to the truth of Iran's claims, but it will also take time before their information is released, even to the Americans.
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