Posted on 08/22/2011 5:37:44 AM PDT by edpc
Iran has started moving the machines that enrich uranium for nuclear fuel from its main atomic complex in the central city of Natanz to an underground bunker near the holy city of Qom, its top nuclear official was quoted as saying on Monday.
"Transferring Natanz centrifuges to Fordow (near Qom) is under way with full observance of standards," Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani told state broadcaster IRIB, adding "Fordow's facilities are being prepared and some centrifuges have been transferred."
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
A city so "holy," they install military nuclear facilities. The ROP in a nutshell.
Obviously, the international opposition neglected to send a strongly worded letter and strenuously object. That would have showed 'em.
/s
I have to wonder if their announcement in June, to this, was in response to the “Arab Spring” and Syria (more specifically) protests. Were they anticipating that they could come under attack in the very near future, and needed to protect their work?
Probably....and any strike on the facilities near Qom (the city where the mahdi is supposedly hidden) would be portrayed as an attack on islam.....at least shia islam.
I pray one of the early measures President Rick Perry does in early 2013 is to do a lend lease to Israel. I suggest 4 or 5 of our mothballed B-1 bombers and number of our latest ground penetrating munitions. He should treat Iran as a terrorist state and not allow any trade or aid to Iran as well.
They have had substantial problems with their P-1 cascades that are obsolete and constantly being destroyed by the molybdenum in their yellow cake.
However, the molybdenum is gone by the time uranium gets to 20%. So for now they will keep refining to 20% turn that into plates for storage and just keep stockpiling.
Taking 20% uranium to 90% is relatively easy and they could do so in a very small facility. Each cascade would need a room the size of a double garage and the electrical power needed for a refrigerator to produce enough fuel for a bomb in one year.
We need to get used to a nuclear-weaponed Iran that cannot be stopped by us or Israel.
The best tactic is to keep doing what is being done, kill off their best engineers. Having the fuel is one thing, figuring how to deliver it to a target and light it off is quite another problem.
Iran's greatest threat is that it will sell weapons-grade fuel to others like Venezuela and Syria and Burma.......
My biggest concern with their uranium stockpiles is the true percentage and overall amount. They have only admitted to having 20% because they've been caught with evidence of material enriched beyond 5%. They attempted (lamely) to explain this away by claiming it was for "research and medicine."
So the question seems to be: How long have they had material at 20% and how much do they have? Seems like they've been there for years and probably have enough material for a few weapons.....just my opinion.
I somewhat disagree with your assessment they may have the material, but cannot make it into a deliverable weapon. According to many sources, including the NYT reporter James Risen, the Iranians were able to score a major engineering coup during Operaion Merlin. In that particular CIA op under Clinton, we provided the Iranians with the plans for a W-87 or -88 style warhead.
A former Soviet nuclear scientist was supposed to be their contact and give them plans for a weapon with purposely flawed information. The idea was they would not have the technical expertise to figure it out. Problem was, the operative betrayed us and gave them a blueprint AND appropriate corrections.
Processing the material for it and constructing the weapon with the proper precision and tolerances would seem to be the only missing pieces. I am not sure they need an Oppenheimer or AQ Khan type equivalent for that.
Up to 20% anyone can call it fuel for research, perfectly legal.
Of course we know they are lying and stalling as you said. We have offered to sell them 20% for their legitimate medical uses and they have not taken us up. Could it be that the fuel we sell them couldn't be used for weapons?. Buying it would be far cheaper than making it, so we know what they're up to.
I'm confidant that's all the 20% they have, we have ways of monitoring them that would show if otherwise.
Bottom line they have enough for a bomb and will produce more and more, one bomb or a dozen, they join the countries with nukes and all the glory and honor that brings (sarcasm).
I never said they couldn't make a weapon, I said using uranium for fuel makes that very hard. That's because uranium weapons require a casing of rare earth metals to create "reflectors" that greatly affect the blast yield. They have little of that and are embargoed. Even if they have it, the weapon would be far too heavy for any missile they have or aircraft. They would have to deliver by boat or train, that would be clumsy.
They are many years away, if ever, from delivery. If they had chosen plutonium like Pakistan, it would be another story.
Iran will create enough ruckus just by lighting off a test weapon. Iran knows there would be hell to pay when they do and their political leadership is deeply divided over that. The Saudis and Israel and Iraq would join forces if Iran did so and Iran knows they would be pariahs among muslims and not gain the religious supremacy they are desperate for.
FWIW, there is an even larger "flat" to the southeast with even more extensive evidence of spoil disposal...
That is no mere "bunker" -- it is, apparently, almost a whole underground city-complex. And, since the openings appear to be at the bottom of high cliff walls, the thing must be protected by several hundred feet of overhead solid rock. Except by (FAE) overpressuring the entrances, I don't see how we can get at that complex with known weaponry...
This is all approved and good by our Fraud in Chief in response to the “Zionist threat”.
Now’s the time. Israel? America? Saudis? Any combination? The bunker is right there. They are putting the machines in them, but they are not in yet. Hello?
Looks like disinformation to me.
In any event, I am not sure why this was moved to breaking news. There are similar current stories about this site, but I posted this article in August.
crickets chirping
The Jewish State is going to have to act...and soon.
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