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NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS

February 20, 2011: Cameras installed at an Iranian nuclear energy facility revealed the catastrophic amount of damage done to the centrifuge systems used to enrich uranium for nuclear power plants or, at higher levels, for nuclear weapons. The UN cameras recorded damaged centrifuge equipment being removed from the plant between late 2009 and early 2010. This was about the same time the Stuxnet computer worm was believed to be causing all that damage. But for the rest of 2010, the UN cameras showed replacement equipment coming into the facility outside the city of Natanz. Despite all the economic sanctions on Iran, they managed to build up a large centrifuge facility, and then replace up to 20 percent of the equipment damaged by Stuxnet.