Posted on 01/03/2006 11:51:15 AM PST by West Coast Conservative
Iran, in what has been regarded as a major step, has announced development of technology to separate uranium from its ore.
The Iranian Atomic Energy Organization has achieved indigenous capability to separate uranium from its ore, officials said. They said the technology, known as a mixer-settler, would enable the extraction of uranium from the mined ore to produce concentrated uranium oxide, or yellowcake.
"The mixer-settler can be used effectively in the fuel cycle for producing zirconium and uranium," an Iranian engineer told state television on Jan. 1. "It minimizes the use of solvent and has a recycling mechanism." In 2003, Iran launched a project to extract uranium from a mine at Saghand, Middle East Newsline reported. Saghand, located in the province of Yazd, has an estimated 1.5 million tons of uranium ore.
The separation technology would enable the production of zirconium, a metal used to preventing corrosion in nuclear plants. Two liquids of different density are mixed to enable the compounds to move from one phase to another.
"Unfortunately, because of the problems that exist, it was not possible for us to buy this machine from abroad and we had to build it domestically," an Iranian official said. "Fortunately, we succeeded."
Uranium ore extraction has been regarded as a key element in the completion of the nuclear fuel cycle. The technology would enable Iran to become independent of foreign suppliers, including Russia. Russia has been the prime contractor of the $1 billion Bushehr nuclear reactor, scheduled to begin full operations in late 2006.
Iran plans to take the yellowcake to a facility for conversion into uranium hexafluoride gas, or UF6. At that point, the gas would be used for enrichment for use as either nuclear fuel or in nuclear weapons.
On Tuesday, deputy head of the Iran's atomic energy agency Mohammad Saidi said that nuclear fuel research will be resumed this week after a two year suspension.
Send Joe Wislon over there to confirm it.
But according to "The Daily Show" yellow cake is a joke . . .
Only if he can get sweet tea in Tehran.
I can, too!.....
Yoo-hoo! Mr. Wilson! Iran has yellowcake. Take your mint juleps and check it out for us, will ya!
Is yellow cake good with lutefisk?
Democrats on Capital Hill were seen popping champaign and toasting the good news.
Only when mixed with a few cups of heavy water.
As were various pEU types.
This is the point where we arrange to have the CIA sell them a defective bomb design that will blow themselves up when they build it...
We might even give it to them for free by building a severely defective one and "losing" it where they can get their hands on it.
This strategy goes hand in hand with my idea for building a spy drone full of gadgets that do absolutely nothing and then having it crash land in China.
The Chinese might figure out that they'd been had. Uncle Joe's Ham-Fisted Soviet Colossus however, would've mass-produced exact copies of it down to the last detail.
The did exactly that with a B-29 that had to land in Soviet territory. They found a small hole on the tail, and puzzled over what it might be there for. They replicated the B-29- including the small hole- because they'd been ordered to produce 'an exact duplicate, alike as two peas in a pod'- and the TU-4 came to be.
Now that takes the cake!
"The MFs got Yellow Cake!"
Joe Wilson said he had tea with the locals and this is just not true. Joe must be right. Ask his wife.
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