Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said on Sunday that the Tehran government is taking preliminary steps to design uranium fuel with a purity of 20 percent for reactors instead of having to copy foreign designs, according to Reuters.
Iran’s 2015 nuclear accord with world powers caps the level to which it is able to enrich uranium to 3.67 percent purity, well below the 20 percent it was reaching before the deal, and the roughly 90 percent that is weapons-grade. State broadcaster IRIB quoted Salehi as saying, “Initial measures have been started for the design of modern 20 percent fuel and we’re on the verge of (achieving) it. This product is different from the previous 20 percent fuel, and we can supply fuel to any reactor that is built like the Tehran reactor.” He noted, “The Tehran reactor has so far been working with old fuel, but modern fuel can improve efficiency."