Energy News  
Uranium Enrichment At Heart Of Iran Nuclear Dispute

Hexafluoride crystals - one of the many stages of the uranium enrichment cycle.
by Staff Writers
Tehran (AFP) Aug 21, 2006
Enrichment, the sensitive process that Iran vowed on Monday was "no longer possible" to stop, takes low-grade uranium and refines it into a material that can power reactors -- or an atomic bomb.

The key difference is that reactor fuel needs uranium that has been enriched only to a low level, whereas an atom bomb requires a much more highly enriched version.

When uranium ore is dug out of the ground, more than 99 percent of it is made up of the more stable U-238 isotope, and just 0.7 percent of it consists of the U-235 isotope that is useful to nuclear engineers.

The goal, therefore, is to beef up the percentage of U-235 so that there is enough of it to induce a chain reaction.

The first step is to mill the ore into a concentrate called yellowcake. This is converted into uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6) ahead of enrichment.

One of the two methods of enrichment is that chosen by Iran, which is by gas centrifuge.

The UF6 is piped in a cylinder which is then spun at high speed. The rotation causes a centrifugal force that leaves the heavier U-238 isotopes at the outside of the cylinder, while the lighter U-235 isotopes are left at the centre.

The process is repeated many times over through a cascade of centrifuges to create uranium of the desired level of enrichment.

When the U-235 level reaches around five percent, the uranium is enriched enough to be used as fuel for civil nuclear reactors.

Iran says it has not enriched uranium beyond 4.8 percent and only on a limited scale.

To be used as the fissile core of a nuclear weapon, the uranium has to be enriched to more than 90 percent and be produced in large quantities.

Little Boy, the Hiroshima bomb, used 64.1 kilos (141 pounds) of enriched uranium, although a device can also be built from between 15 and 25 kilos (33 and 55 pounds) of material, according to experts.

A bomb can also be made from as little as six kilos (13.2 pounds) of plutonium, a by-product of nuclear reactors.

Iran said Monday it was planning to start up a plant in the city of Arak to produce heavy water for use in a different sort of nuclear reactor.

The UN nuclear watchdog is concerned about the risk of diversion of nuclear materials as the reaserch reactor could produce 8-10 kilograms (about 20 pounds) of plutonium a year, enough to make at least two nuclear bombs.

Enrichment using the centrifuge method is half a century old. But it requires thousands of centrifuges connected in cascades to produce weapons-grade uranium.

The machines and their components are highly specialised.

When a country starts to buy large numbers of them on the black market -- as Iran was reported to have done several years ago -- it raises suspicions that it is trying to develop a nuclear weapon.

Iran has installed 164 centrifuges at a pilot plant in Natanz, and a senior official has said Tehran wants to install 3,000 centrifuges within the next year.

Iran is also trying to develop advanced P2 centrifuges -- devices that are capable of making weapons-grade uranium more efficiently than the P1 technology currently in use.

In 2004, Iran told the UN nuclear watchdog it planned to convert 37 tonnes of yellowcake into UF6 for a civil enrichment programme. That, experts said, was enough to make one or more atomic bombs.

The country now says it has 110 tonnes of UF6.

Enrichment is only one of several hurdles to overcome before a country is considered nuclear-weapons capable.

One is the electronic trigger, whose split-second timing is essential for unleashing the chain reaction necessary for a military device.

Another is weaponisation -- putting the device into a missile or bomb that can be delivered to a target.

Iran is a major exporter of oil and has vast reserves of natural gas. It contends it needs nuclear energy to provide power for its citizens when its fossil fuel reserves run out, and to free up its reserves for export.

Source: Agence France-Presse

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


US Makes Nuclear Missile Data Secret Again
Washington (AFP) Aug 21, 2006
The administration of US President George W. Bush has begun reclassifying information about the numbers of US strategic weapons during the Cold War, even though it had been once provided to the Soviet Union, The Washington Post reported Monday.







  • Jadoo Power Awarded Defense Contract for Next Generation Fuel Cell Power System
  • Britain, France, Ireland, Spain seek to extend maritime boundaries at UN meet
  • Crude Prices Higher As Iran UN Deadline Nears
  • Irish Company Challenges Scientists To Test Free Energy Technology

  • New Check On Nuke Power
  • Swedish nuclear sector out of danger, but political fallout lingers
  • US Says New Pakistani Nuclear Reactor Not Very Powerful
  • Nuclear Plant Faced Possible Meltdown In Sweden

  • NASA Experiment Finds Possible Trigger For Radio-Busting Bubbles
  • California's Model Skies
  • ESA Picks SSTL To Develop Atmospheric CO2 Detector
  • Faster Atmospheric Warming In Subtropics Pushes Jet Streams Toward Poles

  • Papua Logging Industry Riddled With Corruption, Rights Abuses: Report
  • Small-Scale Logging Leads To Clear-Cutting In Brazilian Amazon
  • Debate Continues On Post-Wildfire Logging, Forest Regeneration
  • Malaysia And Indonesia Join Forces To Dampen Haze Problem

  • Cow Gas Study Not Just A Lot Of Hot Air
  • No Confidence In Organic
  • New Flood-Tolerant Rice Offers Relief For Poorest Farmers
  • Food-Crop Yields In Future Greenhouse-Gas Conditions Lower Than Expected

  • British Police Force To Introduce Greener Cars
  • Two New Segway Models Offered
  • Declining Death Rates Due to Safer Vehicles Not Better Drivers Or Better Roads
  • Toyota To Expand Hybrid Car Range In US

  • US Sanctions On Russia Could Hurt Boeing
  • Boeing Puts Aircraft Market At 2.6 Trillion Dollars
  • Innovative Solutions Make Transportation Systems Safer Secure and Efficient
  • Joint Strike Fighter Is Not Flawed Finds Australian Government

  • Could NASA Get To Pluto Faster? Space Expert Says Yes - By Thinking Nuclear
  • NASA plans to send new robot to Jupiter
  • Los Alamos Hopes To Lead New Era Of Nuclear Space Tranportion With Jovian Mission
  • Boeing Selects Leader for Nuclear Space Systems Program

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement