Could Iran Have Been Close to Making a Nuclear Weapon? Uranium Enrichment Explained
Could Iran be close to making nuclear weapons? Uranium enrichment has been announced
When Israeli planes recently hit a uranium enrichment complex in the country, Iran is the new high -speed center.
Men are working on a Uranium transformation facility just outside the Isfahan city of Iran on March 30, 2005. The facility in Isfahan was later enriched by feeding on a centrifugal at a facility in Iran.
In the darkness of the local time on Friday, Israeli military planes hit one of the uranium enrichment complexes near Natanz, Iran. War titles aimed to do more than concrete concrete; According to news reports, they had to take time. For months, Iran seemed to be broken closer to the “breaking” where partially enriched uranium stock could be converted into fuel for nuclear bombs. (Iran is there denial Nuclear weapon continues to develop.)
But why did the strike come out now? A thought may involve the way of enrichment complexes. The natural uranium consists of almost entirely uranium 238 or a relatively “heavy-isotope, U-238 (ie there is more neutrons in the nucleus). Only 0.7 percent of Uranium 235 (U-235)A lighter isotope that can maintain the nuclear chain reaction. This means that only seven atoms in natural uranium are lighter, ready for fission U-235; “Enrichment” simply Raising the U-235 percentage.
U-235 can be used in war heads because the seed can be easily divided. Uses International Atom Energy Agency U-235 containing 25 kilograms as comparison amount The first generation was considered sufficient for an explosion bomb. In such a weapon, the U-235 is surrounded by traditional explosives that compress the isotope when exploded. A separate device releases a neutron flow. (Neutrons are neutral Featomic particle that contribute to their masses in an atomic nucleus.) When a neutron hits each U-235 atom, atomic fiss; It is separated and spit on average two or three fresh neutrons – an energy explosion in the form of heat and gamma radiation. And the spreading neutrons hit the other U-235 nucleus in turn, forming a self-sustaining chain reaction between the U-235 atoms packaged in a critical mass together. Conclusion is a nuclear explosion. On the contrary, the more common isotope, the U-238, usually absorbs slow neutrons from division and cannot last such a destructive chain reaction.
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In order to enrich the uranium with sufficient U-235, the “Sarıcak” uranium dust from a mine must pass through a long transformation process to convert it. Gas uranium hekzaflorüre from a solid. First, a number of chemical processes develop uranium, and then at high temperatures, each uranium atom depends on the subcutaneous fluorine atom. Conclusion, Uranium hexafloride, unusual: It is a white, wax floor below 56 degrees (132.8 degrees Fahrenheit)However, it is turned into an intense, invisible gas just above this temperature.
During enrichment, this uranium hexafloride is loaded into a centrifugation: a metal cylinder rotating at tens of thousands of revolutions per minute – faster than the blades of a jet engine. As the heavier U-238 molecules are dragged towards the cylinder wall, lighter U-235 molecules remain closer to the center and siphon. This new, light U-235-Risker gas is then placed in the next centrifuge. Since a more enriched gas is sent through a number of centrifuges, the process is repeated 10 to 20 times.
Enrichment is a slow process, but the Iranian government has been working on this issue for years and Approximately 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent U-235. This is below 90 percent required for nuclear weapons. However, Iran’s first generation IR-1 centrifuges circulate at about 63,000 rpm per minute and do a relatively modest job, while the newer IR-6 models built of high-strength carbon fiber rotate faster and produce enriched uranium.
Iran sets up thousands of units of these units to Fordow, an underground enrichment facility, which has a 80 to 90 -meter rock. According to A report The new centrifuges, published by the Institute of Science and International Security on Monday, can produce 90 U-235 uranium for a war title in a war title in a war title in a short period of two to three days, and in three weeks or for nine nuclear weapons at the end of the third month.
