LONDON [MENL] -- The International Atomic Energy Agency has determined that Iran accelerated its uranium conversion program.

In a Nov. 18 report, IAEA director-general Mohammed El Baradei said Iran has increased activities at its uranium conversion facility at Isfahan. Agency sources quoted the report as saying that Iran sent a batch of yellowcake to Isfahan on Nov. 16 that was 50 percent larger than the previous shipment.

"Iran has continued to conduct uranium conversion activities at its Isfahan facility," El Baradei said in a statement on Nov. 24. "The agency has been verifying this activity, and all UF6 produced so far at this facility remains under agency containment and surveillance."

Yellowcake, or U308, is concentrated uranium oxide produced through the milling of uranium ore. Yellowcake could be converted to uranium tetraflouride, or UF4, and then to uranium hexaflouride, or UF6. UF6 is the feedstock for centrifuges designed to enrich uranium to a level required for either nuclear reactor fuel or nuclear weapons.