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Iran Said to Have Enough Nuclear Fuel for One Weapon

Submitted by national on Thursday, 20 November 20084 Comments

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Iran has now produced roughly enough nuclear material to make, with added purification, a single atom bomb, according to nuclear experts analyzing the latest report from global atomic inspectors.

The figures detailing Iran’s progress were contained in a routine update on Wednesday from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been conducting inspections of the country’s main nuclear plant at Natanz. The report concluded that as of early this month, Iran had made 630 kilograms, or about 1,390 pounds, of low-enriched uranium.

Several experts said that was enough for a bomb, but they cautioned that the milestone was mostly symbolic, because Iran would have to take additional steps. Not only would it have to breach its international agreements and kick out the inspectors, but it would also have to further purify the fuel and put it into a warhead design — a technical advance that Western experts are unsure Iran has yet achieved.

“They clearly have enough material for a bomb,” said Richard L. Garwin, a top nuclear physicist who helped invent the hydrogen bomb and has advised Washington for decades. “They know how to do the enrichment. Whether they know how to design a bomb, well, that’s another matter.”

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4 Comments »

  • Festus said:

    Maybe it’s just the coffee going to my head, but why exactly do they have to further enrich the material??

    If they took their bucket full of uranium, dumped it into the top of a rocket with a bunch of explosives tucked in there as well, and fired the puppy towards Israel or whatever their current enemy of choice is, they would still make one hell of a mess.

    They wouldn’t have to turn the place into a glass bottomed bowl. They wouldn’t have to incinerate everything within 10KM.

    Think of the loss of life, loss of security, loss of access, loss of economy, and general terror that could be inspired by spreading all that radioactive material around the target city all on it’s own.

    Think of how long it would take to clean it up. If it could be reasonably done. Think of the expense, think of the chaos of evacuations, think of the logistical needs to clean up. They could effectively knock out a full city with a conventional rocket with some radioactive material taped to the front.

    All that silliness to say that we should be more concerned that they have the material at all, reather than that they could maybe try to purify it to make a bigger bang.

    Comments??

    - 20 November 2008 at 8:08 am
  • South Carolina said:

    I certainly hope we hve enought safe gaurds in place to detect a threat to our country in time to counteract. The security forces in place need to be re thought and stop faulty leeks of useless information. only the real thing should get throught to the right people.

    - 20 November 2008 at 9:34 am
  • waler said:

    A fool may throw a stone into a well, which a hundred wise men cannot pull out. Who on Earth thoght is right to let those idiots to get in our Universities?

    - 21 November 2008 at 2:54 pm
  • GLRP007 said:

    Ol’ “I’m-a-nut-job” is like a kid playing with matches….well, it’s time to take the matches away before “someone” gets hurt!

    - 22 November 2008 at 10:27 am

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