Slog - Comments on 3000 Centrifuges http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/3000_centrifuges As Brad linked to in today's news, Iran announced it is now enriching Uranium on an industrial scale. But Wednesday's claim appeared to go further, with Ahmadinejad's words and the tone and setting of his Wednesday speech suggesting he meant all 3,000 were running. ... The number 3,000 is the commonly accepted figure for a nuclear enrichment program that is past the experimental stage and can be used as a platform for a full industrial-scale program that could churn out enough enriched material for dozens of nuclear weapons, should Iran chose to go the route. As many of the... Copyright 2008 Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:35:31 -0800 Sun, 18 Nov 2007 14:14:54 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by drew Thanks for a good level headed nerd read. It's a shame that the logic presented in this post wont be exposed when "the news" talks about it.

]]> drew http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/3000_centrifuges#c844464 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/3000_centrifuges#c844464 Science Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:59:18 -0800 Comment by Zander Western Powers like to wait for a new Moon to begin an airstrike campaign. The sky is at its darkest and aircraft are not profiled by moonlight. Even better wait for a month with fewer hours of daylight to allow for the maximum time of night time operations (like November).
After a night like this, after the air defense and power grids have been reduced, daytime strikes can proceed with increased precision and real time damage assessment.
As it happens, this Friday is a New Moon. In fact the moon will set before night providing a rare moonless night. It also the beginning of a holiday weedend so the markets will be closed on Monday. Not that there would be any reason to freak out over the weekend. Given the 11 1/2 time difference, any breaking news would coincide with our ngihtly news on Friday.
I wouldn't worry though. I made the same observations last year and nothing happened.
What's more since then oil has gone way up as the dollar has declined. And what is more important there seems to be new relationships in the east. Not to mention the tinderbox of Pakistan.
Which brings back to how crazy is crazy.

]]> Zander http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/3000_centrifuges#c844481 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/3000_centrifuges#c844481 Science Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:13:01 -0800 Comment by kinaidos Here's a bit of audio history on the gas centrifuge, complete with an interview with Zippe himself:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4857123

The only way to make sure ANY nuclear program is simply used for power production is total monitoring.

As Jonathan points out, you can derive enough fisile Plotonium from a power reactor simply by lowering it's flux rate. The only way to know is to monitor the reactor.

Also the only way to tell if a centrifuge farm is producing enriched or highly enriched weapons grade Uranium is to monitor it to examine it's configuration or output.

The concentration on centrifuges is simply becuase that's where they are at I suspect. If they had a reactor in place we would not be worrying about what they were spinning out of their centrifuges.

]]> kinaidos http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/3000_centrifuges#c844491 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/3000_centrifuges#c844491 Science Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:26:55 -0800 Comment by I smell a rat That president of Iran guy was one of the hostage takers.

The hostage takers were on the payroll of the Reagan campaign.

What do you want to bet that el presidente is some sort of plant for the Bushies, and/or the CIA? Very few people in the country like him, he has no real power, but they keep playing him up in the US media.

]]> I smell a rat http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/3000_centrifuges#c844506 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/3000_centrifuges#c844506 Science Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:56:20 -0800 Comment by David Wright Correction: At the top of the curve of binding energy is iron, not lead. To use your vernacular: all elements secretly desire to be iron.

Sincerely, a former nuclear physicist

]]> David Wright http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/3000_centrifuges#c844545 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/3000_centrifuges#c844545 Science Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:50:58 -0800 Comment by Jonathan Golob oh man, you're right! And I knew this. I wrote the post too quickly on the way out the door. I'll correct it. Thanks!

]]> Jonathan Golob http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/3000_centrifuges#c844616 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/3000_centrifuges#c844616 Science Wed, 07 Nov 2007 22:20:31 -0800 Comment by David Wright Jonathan: No worries. You've probably read it already, but in case you haven't, let me heartally recommend McPhee's "The Curve Of Binding Energy" on this subject, to you and anyone else reading this. The context is a bit dated, but the analysis is right-on, and of course McPhee's writing is always a pleasure.

]]> David Wright http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/3000_centrifuges#c844624 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/3000_centrifuges#c844624 Science Wed, 07 Nov 2007 23:00:26 -0800 Comment by FeMan Fe. I believe Iron is actually the element that everything wants to be, they're just willing to stop at lead, if they're going to be fissioning anyway.

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Hey, Israel already has the bomb. Or do you mean Israel is not scary because they would never preemptively invade a neighbor?

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