Why does Iran need so many centrifuges?
Iranian scientists are trying to manufacture a more powerful centrifuge for enriching uranium, the country’s president announced on Thursday. Tehran has already set up 164 centrifuges and plans to install another 3,000 later this year as the government works toward its goal of 54,000. Why does Iran need so many centrifuges?
Because each one is so small. A centrifuge for enriching uranium consists of a thin vacuum tube with a rotor inside that spins around at tens of thousands of rpm. When uranium gas enters the tube and whips around at high speeds, the useful U-235 isotopes get separated out from their heavier cousins, the U-238 isotopes. The speed of the rotor determines how effectively a centrifuge can enrich uranium, and a rotor’s maximum speed depends in part on the dimensions of the centrifuge. Since it’s hard to maintain a balanced spin in a long tube, engineers have to keep the devices to less than a few meters in length. That means they can enrich only a few grams of material at a time.
Even those few grams need lots of trips through the centrifuge to reach the weapons-grade level. (For more on how enrichment actually works, click here.) Enrichment plants get the job done by connecting hundreds of small centrifuges together, in clusters called “cascades.” The uranium gas enters one centrifuge after another, with the enriched gas that comes out of the first getting siphoned off and directed into the next. By routing the enriched product back through the cluster of centrifuges over and over again, you can keep increasing its U-235 content. Given enough time — and enough spins — you’ll reach the 3 to 5 percent concentration you need to run a light-water reactor, or the 80 to 90 percent you need to make a standard nuclear weapon.
Since each centrifuge is so small, this spin-and-repeat process can take a very, very long time. So far Iran has been relying on the P-1 design, which uses several aluminum rotor tubes connected by flexible joints. (The flexible joints allow you to increase the length of each device, which are still only about 2 meters long.) Now the Iranians are working on building an upgrade: The P-2 would be smaller than the P-1 (1 meter long), but its carbon fiber or maraging steel walls would enable it to spin much more quickly, which would in turn speed up the enrichment process.
If you click on the link to the article itself, you’ll find several links to specific articles on the parts of the centrifuge and other interesting items.
Of course, you’re buying into the Bush administration’s lie – again — which conveniently overlooks the fact that
1- According to the IAEA there is no evidence of nuclear weapons programs in Iran – and this conclusion was reached by the IAEA inspectors after Iran permitted more inspections that it was legally required.
2- Iran’s nuclear weapons program started under the Shah, with the support and encouragement of the US, because Iran has a very valid case for having nuclear power and the people of Iran fully support this too.
3- Iran’s isn’t doing anything that violates any of its legal obligations, and Iran has a perfect right to have enrichment technology
4- Iran’s intentions to acquire enrichment technology was never a secret as is often claimed. Iran resorted to secrecy after its repeated overt attempts to acquire the technology it was entitled to was thwarted by the US (in violation of the NPT) and since then, the IAEA has said that whatever failures in reporting occurred has been or is being remedied by Iran.
5- The people who are pushing for a war on Iran are mostly the NeoCons and the Pro-Israeli lobbyists which also pushed for the disasterous war on Iraq.
1. An international Visa/passport system would be WONDERFUL to track, persons from Each country, as EACH international Person would NEED one to get from any place, to any place….THIS WOULD HAPPEN. Just wishful thinking.
2. The concerns of Nuke material, is ABIT off. I would worry MORE about:..
ICBM– Testing of intercontenantal balistic missles.
Other forms of terror, it dont take nukes to use terror
START securing the Borders, as we should have been doing sence the 70’s
3. for all the money spent on this war, we can only check about 30% of incoming cargo FROM certain countries…THIS means OTHEr cargo ISNT checked at all, AND those 30% ARENT OPENED, only scanned for radioactives…
If the IAEA says everything is OK, then why did they vote to refer to the Security Council?
How naive can whoever posted comment number one be?? They are sitting one on of the worlds largest oil deposits, why in the world would they need nuclear energy so bad?? These people are made in the same mold as Adolph HIttler. If you cant see that, then you are blind to history.
Jeremy
Why Does Iran Seem To Hate The West, But Kind Of ‘Like’ It Too?
I was startled to finally hear several years ago that the real reason for the ’79 hostage crisis was because the CIA had ‘engineered’ a coup in the early 50’s that put the dictatorial Shah and his minions back in power, and those Islamic revolutionaries were quite pissed about it, and just wanted to assert themselves against the imperialistic oil-hungry Americans and Europeans et al. What business did we have doing that to them? To just keep driving our cars cheaply?
Then I read an article just a month or so ago, where Ted Koppel explained that as far back as Stalin’s reign, the Soviets had their eye on making Iran and all its resources another one of their ‘satellites’, and so of course the Americans wanted to try to prevent such a thing. How could they not? Imagine a guy like Stalin in control of that region.
It would seem to me that the people of Iran (and the Middle East in general) are caught in a kind of critical world-strategic nexus of ever-dwindling resources, and if they’re now trying to play a nuclear shell game that often sounds confusing, who can blame them? That guy they just elected their president may look like a nut case standing on the tracks, daring the Western locomotive to run him down, but hey, they elected him! Why did they do that?
I think the Iranians should be somehow contacted directly, if it could be done, and reasoned with in a fair and common-sense way, without the blather of trying to stare down their angry leaders. They are perfectly intelligent people like us, and it would be such a horrible shame if their ancient and beautiful culture were to be ravaged by a lot of fear and mistrust, or unimaginable violence by forces they (and we) can’t seem to control.
Will our own government learn to understand such things better, in time? Don’t hold your breath…
Signed –
Trying To Cut Down On Energy Use
I heard the other day that Iran does not have a single oil refinery, not one. Why don’t they put all this effort into building oil refineries from which to power their electrical needs?
There is no real need for Iran to have a nuclear power plant. They have an easily accessible energy source in huge abundance in the form of their vast oil fields. I don’t dispute their right to nuclear power but I question why they feel that they must have it before using their readily available and extensive fuel sources.
The answer seems pretty clear to me. They want nuclear weapons. Period. As belligerent as their statements are against Israel and the U.S., can’t anyone else see the national security issue for the rest of the world? Am I the only one that is concerned?
There is a lot of talk of Saddam’s nuclear weapons program being shipped out of the country to Syria shortly before the invasion of Iraq. Now, a few short years after the Iraq war, Iran now appears to have a vibrant and expansive nuclear weapons program. I now wonder if a large portion of Iraq’s equipment and expertise was sent to Iran, not Syria, with the expressed desire to build nuclear weapons to use against the West.
This is very high stakes poker here, folks. We continue to live in interesting times.
Is it surprising they’re in a hurry to asemble a weapon? It’s the only means they have to disuade a western invasion. Do you think Bush would have been so gungho to invade if Iraq had a single nuclear device? The leadership would have figured if they’re going down, Tel Aviv would also. That would be the door to armegedon.
If you are worried about Iran having a nuclear weapon, just think how the rest of the world is worried that America has thousands of nuclear weapons, proven delivery systems, likes to invade smaller countries every few years, and has King George running the show.
So Iran is sitting on a pool of oil. It won’t last forever. Sheesh, the US is not only sitting on a pool of oil, it has thousands of rivers to dam for power and millions of square miles to put up wind generators and solar collectors. It also has the technology to make machines much more efficient.
So if you are worried for Israel being wiped off the face of the earth, just what the heck has Israel been doing to the Palestinians? If Israel tried to get along with its neighbors better, they would have much less to fear.
For all their work…
Why not scare them ALOT…
Run around with geiger counters and show them ALL that we have learned about radioactive material, and its fallout..
The Gov, FINALLY acknowledged that Southern idaho was hit, about 40 years ago…
i wont mention those DOWN wind in UTAH, colorado, and so on….
Iran won’t nuke Israel. Jeruselam is holy to Muslims too. Israel ain’t that big. Any mistarget can blow up the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Jeruselam is holy to Muslims too. Israel ain’t that big. Any mistarget can blow up the Al-Aqsa mosque.
That’s all a modern invention to stake a claim on Israel. Islam really only cares about Medinah and Mecca. The Al-Aqsa mosque will probably fall down from all the excavating their doing, throwing out Jewish relics.
They’re going to work great once Tehran is nuked.
And yes, it’s no more complicated with that.
“That’s all a modern invention to stake a claim on Israel. Islam really only cares about Medinah and Mecca.”
What?! Al-Aqsa is the third holiest mosque in Islam after Mecca and Madinah. What have you been reading man… This is the first time I’ve heard somebody make that absurd claim. Read your history books. Why would Muslims would want to stake claim on Israel if it’s not important to them? You’ve got facts really messed up.
15,
NUKe an enrichment plant??? NO, NOT, NEVER….
This is worse then using GAS to kill FIRE…
The area affected would be most of the middle east, tibet, and parts of asia…
that’s about as bad as a SPARK, in a grain mill….Ever see a silow LAUNCH to the moon?? Grain dust, will light, as 1 particle, that THEN light 4 more, then those light 16, on and on….Mouse traps and Ping-pong balls (IF you know it)… And in the LEAST you will spread radioactive material accross 3000 miles…
This is a CONDENCING process…It takes LOTs of material to make A LITTLE U-235…and its ALL various parts of radioactivity… Like Distilling alcohol… you may have a liquid of 5 gallons at 20%, but you WANT only the 20%….you get 1 gallon from the 5..
GOOD idea if you want EVERY muslim and terrorist NOT in the middle east to HATE us…NOt to mention about 1/2 the oil rescourses poluted..