Thursday, March 20, 2014

An Infographic On How Quickly Iran Can Produce An Atomic Bomb


WNU Editor: The Infographic begins here.
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3 comments:

Don Bacon said...

from the CSMonitor -- what can we expect?

First, a few mistakes.

--There is no proof that Parchin is a nuclear weapons facility. The IAEA visited there a few years ago, and found nothing. US intelligence agencies have said that Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program.

--The CSMonitor history doesn't correctly describe the 2010 Brazil-Turkey-Iran deal to process 20% uiranium outside Iran which Obama first endorsed and then torpedoed. It says: "Unable to purchase 20 percent-enriched fuel for the Tehran research reactor after a deal with world powers fell through. That's BS.

--The CSMonitor refers to Iran's "nuclear rights." (in quotes like that) Of course Iran has a right to process minerals, to enrich uranium and use it for peaceful purposes. This is done under the watch of the IAEA to be sure that uranium fuel is not diverted to a weapons program according to the NPT which Iran signed many years ago. The IAEA, in its quarterly reports, has continually affirmed that Iran is not diverting uranium fuel.

Most important:
The title page says:
"Nuclear Iran: How quickly could Iran make the bomb?"
It doesn't answer that question, it only talks about how the efort to enrich uranium decreases as the purity increases. Granted. But you can't build a nuclear weapon out of hexofluoride uranium gas.

The situation is further confused by labeling the achievement of HEU as "breakout", incorrectly implying that a nuclear weapon somehow pops out of gas centrifuges.

A nuclear weapon cannot be made of gas. The gas must be converted to metal, a difficult and very dangerous process because of the high potential for a critical accident (like a nuclear reactor without shielding) that would kill anyone in the room or nearby.

Then an implosion warhead would have to be constructed. Warheads are complicated little machines. The entire detonation process happens within a tiny fraction of a second so the hard part is constructing a warhead with reliable separation capabilities throughout the various stages. Testing is mandatory to make sure the thing works.

Even if Iran developed a basic nuclear weapon, it would require more advanced technology to miniaturize the warhead to fit into a small missile cone. Iran would need to conduct nuclear tests to prove its warheads. The USA and USSR conducted hundreds of tests over many years to develop this expertise.

So the "infographic" is high on graphic but low on info.

March 19, 2014 at 11:10 PM
War News Updates Editor said...

CSM is not what it use to be. i saw two errors in the info-graphic .... but your list is more accurate. It is not easy to make a nuclear weapon .... even if you a good idea on how to build one.

March 19, 2014 at 11:17 PM
Unknown said...

who knows Iran already has Nuclear bomb or not in its place and just waiting for Official approval to start

March 20, 2014 at 12:15 AM

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