Description

The site at Lavizan Shian, located in northeastern Tehran, first came to public attention in May 2003 when the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) announced that Iran's Ministry of Defense had formed a new biological weapons center called Malek Ashtar University based at the Lavizan Shian Technological Research Center. In April 2004, the NCRI made public further allegations that Iran was conducting research and development activities associated with its nuclear program using advanced P2 centrifuges at a second site at Lavizan Shian called the Center for Readiness and New Defense Technology.

In June 2004, the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) publicly released satellite imagery, first taken in August 2003 and again in May 2004, showing that Iran had razed buildings to the ground and scraped the earth at Lavizan Shian. ABC News also reported that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had received information regarding the possible presence of radiation detection devices, called whole body counters, at the site.

Following these public disclosures, the IAEA requested and received permission from Iran to visit the Lavizan Shian site, including access to two whole body counters. As described in the November 2004 IAEA report, Iran explained to the Agency that the site had been razed in response to a decision made in connection to a dispute between the municipality of Tehran and the Ministry of Defense and the return of the land to the city for recreational use. Iran stated that several military-related institutions had been based at the site between 1989 and 2004, including the Physics Research Center (PHRC) and the Institute for Applied Physics (IAP), but that no nuclear fuel cycle-related activities had been undertaken at Lavisan Shian. According to Iran, activities at the PHRC, which was established in 1989 to oversee preparedness to defend against nuclear attacks and accidents, had stopped in 1998, and the facility had been changed to the Biological Study Center to focus on "biological R&D and radioprotection activities." The IAEA reported that its analysis of environmental samples collected at the Lavizan Shian site showed no evidence of undeclared plutonium or highly enriched uranium, but noted that the detection of nuclear material in soil samples was difficult given Iran's razing of the site.

As of November 2011, the IAEA continues to remain concerned about the role of the PHRC in Iran's nuclear weaponization-related research and development activities. According to the Agency, information received from member states indicates that Iran halted activities at the PHRC in late 2003 and deliberately dismantled the site so as to conceal the sensitive nature of its activities at the Lavisan Shian site.

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