What Is Iran's 'Nuclear Dust' And Why Does Trump Want To Take It Away?

Tehran has said its objective in enriching uranium is power generation and energy security, not a nuclear weapon. But the available data suggests otherwise.

17 Apr 2026, 04:40 · NDTV

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Donald Trump has claimed that Iran is ready to hand over its "nuclear dust"
There has been no immediate confirmation from the Iranian side about agreeing to any such term
Iran is believed to have more than 400 kilograms of 60 per cent highly enriched uranium

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US President Donald Trump has claimed that Iran is ready to hand over its "nuclear dust" to the United States. "Nuclear dust" has been Trump's phrase for Iran's highly enriched uranium that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) believed is buried deep underneath the ground following US strikes on three key Iranian nuclear facilities in June last year.

There has been no immediate confirmation from the Iranian side about agreeing to any such term in talks with Americans or their Pakistani negotiators, but if true, the move would be a significant step in US efforts to reduce Tehran's ability to produce a nuclear weapon.

"There will be no enrichment of Uranium," Trump said, adding that the United States would work with Iran to "dig up and remove all of the deeply buried (B-2 Bombers) nuclear 'dust.'"

How Much Uranium Does Iran Have

Before the US and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran in June, the Islamic Republic was believed to have more than 400 kilograms of 60 per cent highly enriched uranium and nearly 200 kilograms of 20 per cent fissile material, which is easily converted into 90 per cent weapons-grade uranium.

Tehran has said its objective in enriching uranium is power generation and energy security, not a nuclear weapon. But the available data suggests otherwise.

Iran has announced it has plans to boost its nuclear electricity generation capacity to 20 gigawatts by 2041. However, Iran's Bushehr power plant, built by the Russians and opened commercially in 2013, has a capacity to produce just 1,000 megawatts of power and remains the country's only operational nuclear facility.

This accounts for just about 1 per cent of Iran's overall electricity production. To compensate for the existing 25,000 megawatt shortfall in Iran's electricity grid, Iran would need to build around 25 more power plants similar to Bushehr, whose construction took around 20 years to complete.

Talking to Germany's state-funded publication Deutsche Welle (DW), Umud Shokri, energy strategist and Senior Visiting Fellow at George Mason University in the United States, said, "Iran holds some of the world's largest natural gas and oil reserves, enabling electricity generation at costs significantly lower than nuclear power."

"In practice, its electricity mix remains dominated by natural gas, while nuclear contributes only a small share from the single operating Bushehr reactor."

Where Iran's Nuclear Dust Is Buried

Much of Iran's uranium stockpile is believed to be buried under the rubble of a mountain facility pummelled in US bombings that Trump ordered at the time, which he had claimed "obliterated" Tehran's nuclear programme.

According to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, Iran's nuclear material is mainly stored at two of the three sites that the US attacked-- an underground tunnel at the nuclear complex in Isfahan and a cache at Natanz.

Reports have claimed that the Iranians have centrifuges to enrich uranium and the capability to set up a new underground enrichment site.

The Nuke Deadlock In Iran-US Talks

The existence of Iran's nuclear programme has been a key point of tension between the Trump administration and Tehran. The United States perceived Iran's enriched uranium as a security concern because the material could be used in the service of creating a nuclear weapon.

Given that Iran has long said it does not seek a nuclear weapon, any promise that it won't build one in future as well may not be a significant breakthrough. However, if Tehran has indeed agreed to hand over the existing stocks of enriched uranium, it would prove to be a much more substantial concession, although still limited if Tehran retains its ability to enrich more.

US officials have claimed the US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities last summer destroyed or rendered inoperable many of the centrifuges that were used by the Islamic Republic to enrich uranium, but the country is widely believed to have others.

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