Posted on 12/31/2009 9:33:32 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday that Iran's recently diclosed second uranium enrichment plant is "immune" to conventional bombing. "The new site near Qom is meant for enrichment. What was revealed by the Iranians had been built over years and is located in bunkers that cannot be destroyed through a conventional attack," Barak told parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee.
Iran notified the UN nuclear watchdog in September that it was building a second enrichment plant near the central shrine city of Qom, after Washington accused it of covertly evading its notification responsibilities under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Confirmation of the construction work drew criticism not only from Western governments but also from the United Nations.
Enriched uranium can make the fuel for nuclear power plants but in highly extended form can also produce the fissile core of an atomic bomb.
Along with Western governments, Israel suspects Iran of seeking to develop a weapons capability under the guise of a civil nuclear programme, an accusation Tehran denies.
Along with its US ally, Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, has refused to rule out a resort to military action to prevent Iran developing a bomb.
Barak said he feared Iran could develop a weapon by 2011.
"I believe that by early 2010 Iran will hold threshold technology (for building a bomb). That means that if it wanted, it could develop nuclear weapons within a year from obtaining threshold technology," a senior official quoted him as telling the parliamentary committee.
(Excerpt) Read more at spacewar.com ...
Interesting. I was not aware of a limit to fission bombs.
Oh well, maybe they’ll just drop several. With nukes, millimeter aiming precision isn’t exactly necessary.
That is why antimatter bombs are so effective and that is why I support its development.The more antimatter you have the bigger the bang The only major problem with antimatter bombs is containment. The big plus for antimatter bombs is that there is no fallout.
“I was not aware of a limit to fission bombs”
To oversimplify, in a “little boy” design, the act of fission blasts the fissionable material at either end before it has a chance to react.
In a “fat man” design, there are simply practical limitations to: (1) how big your core can be (without itself being a critical mass) and (2) issues with controling the implosion as you get larger.
Knocking out the doors/vents just takes the station off-line for a little while.
Lot of political heat for what amount to an inconvience.
Destroying the air vents and entrances cuts off the inflow of air into the bunker. A good enough pasting would cut off the airflow for a few days, enough for all the personnel inside to suffocate.
Specially if we continued to bomb any recovery efforts Iran made.
That alone would set their nuclear program back years. For they would have to recruit and train a whole new crop of scientists and engineers.
“enough for all the personnel inside to suffocate.”
By nature of such attacks, any attack would be at night, and the buildings largely empty of personnel.
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