Tehran tests new nuclear equipment

Iran has launched a second batch of centrifuges at its pilot nuclear fuel plant despite possible U.N. Security Council sanctions, diplomats said.

Tehran this month fired up the new cascade of 164 interconnected centrifuges, which can enrich uranium for power-plant or nuclear-bomb fuel, to go with an initial batch of 164 centrifuges, the diplomats said.

But Iran appeared to be only testing the second cascade, without feeding uranium gas into it, as it has generally done with the first cascade, which yielded a tiny amount of homegrown enriched uranium in April.