The United States maintains a classified replica of Iran's nuclear facilities and extensive network of atomic facilities in a bid to understand and block the country's nuclear development,
The New York Times reported.
Diplomats and officials involved in the recent nuclear talks with Iran drew on the expertise of scientists and their technical information to get a detailed picture of Iran's abilities to develop a weapon under different scenarios.
"We know a lot more about Iranian centrifuges than we would otherwise," a senior nuclear specialist familiar with the sites and its secret operations told the Times.
The scientists helped develop a face-saving solution within the talks that would allow Iran to keep its underground facility, Fordo, open: convert it to a research facility not to be used for any element that could potentially be used in nuclear weapons.
In another case, experts led negotiators in a proposal to redesign another nuclear reactor, Arak, which is currently under construction, to make sure it couldn't produce bomb-grade plutonium.
During the talks, the scientists were often on call 24 hours a day, answering questions from negotiators and sometimes providing calculations and computer modeling, the Times reported.
The labs would also check and recheck one another to ensure the accuracy of their responses.
"It's what our people love to do," Thom Mason, the director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, told the Times. "It can be very rewarding."
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