Statement from Secretary Ernest Moniz on the Anniversary of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action

"One year ago, the P5+1, the European Union and the Islamic Republic of Iran announced the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a historic deal to ensure that Iran’s nuclear program is – and will remain – a peaceful one, or that the international community will have more than enough time to respond if Iran’s program proves otherwise. After years of negotiations and months of preparations for the implementation of the JCPOA, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) certified that Iran completed all the necessary nuclear steps required to reach Implementation Day in January. Today, it is clear that the JCPOA has blocked Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon.

This time last year, Iran had approximately 19,000 centrifuges installed and a stockpile equivalent to more than 12,000 kg of uranium hexafluoride, some of which was enriched to nearly 20 percent—giving Iran the ability to produce enough weapons grade uranium for a bomb in about two or three months. As a result of the deal, Iran has removed two-thirds of its centrifuges and associated infrastructure, and the country is limited to a stockpile of no more than 300 kg of uranium hexafluoride enriched to no more than 3.67 percent. Together, these limitations block Iran’s uranium pathway to a bomb.

Since last year, when Iran’s Arak Heavy Water Research Reactor was close to producing enough weapons-grade plutonium for one-to-two weapons per year, Iran has removed the core of the reactor and filled it with concrete, eliminating its potential source of weapons-grade plutonium and blocking the plutonium pathway to a bomb. As a result of the JCPOA, an international working group co-chaired by both the U.S. and China was founded, and is working to ensure that the reactor will be redesigned to support only peaceful nuclear research and radioisotope production for medical and industrial purposes.

In the past year, the IAEA has gained unprecedented access to Iran’s nuclear facilities and supply chain, and the agency can now use modern safeguards technologies in its monitoring and verification efforts, in order to block possible covert pathways to a nuclear weapon. Altogether, the components of the JCPOA add up to increase Iran’s breakout time from just two-to-three months before the deal to at least one year today.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was shaped by rigorous technical analysis conducted by experts at the Department of Energy’s headquarters, seven of the Department’s national laboratories and two of its nuclear sites, and these experts will continue to play a critical role as implementation of the deal continues. With real, tangible results – and a foundation in hard science and verification – the JCPOA has enhanced our global security and will continue to do so for years to come."

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