IAEA: Iran may be developing a nuclear warhead

IAEA: Iran may be developing a nuclear warhead

Israel's Foreign Ministry responds to the latest IAEA report on Iran's nuclear program saying “The new IAEA report deals more sharply and clearly than its predecessors with the military aspects of Iran’s nuclear program,”

The IAEA report said Iran’s resistance to agency efforts to probe for signs of a nuclear cover-up “give rise to concerns about possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program.” The leaked report also went on to say, "The information available to the agency raises concerns about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile."

These reports contradict to a U.S assement of Iran's nuclear program that shall now need to be revised in light of the evidence mounting against the Islamic regime, who with Ahmadinejad at the helm has countless times threated to wipe Israel "Off the Map."

The scientific and the diplomatic

Enriching uranium from 0 to twenty percent and twenty percent to 90 percent is somewhat like an earthquake. The difference between a 2.0 earthquake and a 2.5 earthquake is not point five percent stronger. A 2.0 earthquake has an Approximate TNT for Seismic Energy Yield of 1 metric ton. A 2.5 earthquake has an Approximate TNT for Seismic Energy Yield of 5.6 metric tons.

So to with enriching uranium; seventy percent of the work toward reaching weapons-grade uranium took place when Iran enriched uranium gas to 3.5 percent. Meanwhile, enriching uranium under the guise of medical needs will get Tehran much closer to possessing weapons-grade material. It much easier to go from twenty percent to ninety, percent than from five percent to twenty percent.

Enriching uranium further to the 19.75 percent needed for the reactor is an additional “fifteen to twenty percent of the way there.” So once Iran got to twenty percent they were about eighty five percent of the way to weapons grade uranium.

Once the uranium is enriched above twenty percent, it is considered highly enriched uranium. The uranium would need to be enriched further, to sixty percent and then to ninety percent, before it could be used for a weapon. The last two steps are not that big a deal, and could be accomplished within months.

I once thought twenty percent enrichment, they have another seventy percent to go, that will take awhile… not so! Why do they lump twenty percent and ninety percent U235 together as highly enriched uranium? Iran will find it much easier to go from twenty to ninety, than from five to twenty.

An important thing to understand about the enrichment process is the removing of undesirable isotopes. For an example; If you have 1000 atoms of uranium. Seven of them will be the fissile isotope Uranium 235. The other 993 are useless Uranium 238. To make reactor fuel, Iran or any other country would removes 860 of the non-U235 isotopes, leaving a U235 to U238 ratio of 7:140 or five percent.

To make fuel for the TRR, Iran removes another 105 non-U235 atoms from the 140, leaving a ratio of 7:35 or twenty percent. To make a bomb, Iran needs only to remove 27 of the remaining 35 atoms, leading a ratio of 7:8 and you’re at 90 percent.

Iran’s recent announcement that they are at the twenty percent enrichment point begins a new and potentially dangerous turn in the situation. If Iran enriches a significant amount of U235 to 20 percent and that is their most resent statement, Iran would be able to “top off” the enrichment process in a small, clandestine facility like the one near Qom. The answer to the real intentions of Iran is pretty obvious. They passed medical and industrial grade, so what is next… The old Kingston trio song lyrics still hold true today “ mans been endowed with the mushroom shaped cloud and we know for certain that some lovely day some one will set the spark off and we will all be blown away”.