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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran Has Installed 1,600 Atomic Centrifuges: Report |
| 2007-05-18 |
| Iran has installed 1,600 centrifuges used for enriching uranium and is pressing ahead with more as part of its nuclear program, a senior Iranian official was quoted May 17 as saying. The figure confirms what diplomats who follow Iran’s case have been saying about the number installed so far. Iran has said it is setting up 3,000 of the machines, which can make fuel for nuclear power plants or, if desired, material for warheads. Iran insists its plans are peaceful, although Western capitals say Tehran’s goal is nuclear bombs. “Iran is installing 3,000 centrifuges in the Natanz facility and currently has 1,600 active centrifuges,” Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli, deputy secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying by Iran’s Mehr News Agency. Natanz is in central Iran. With 3,000 centrifuges, all running smoothly, Iran could make enough material for at least one warhead in a year, Western diplomats say. But they have said the country has faced technical glitches with smaller numbers hampering the work. Iran has said its goal to build more than 50,000 centrifuges. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #8 #4, That isn't very funny (ribs sore/eyes watery). Mmm, now back to the lab for me... Uhh, where was I before that silly interuption? ...Oh yeah! --P=EI-- Thank you, Jesus. Amen. -at- |
| Posted by: Asymmetrical T 2007-05-18 21:56 |
| #7 up to 8000 by end of the year. |
| Posted by: Spats Flinemble1593 2007-05-18 21:42 |
| #6 sounds like a job for Halliburton Earthquake Division Get 'em on the phone. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2007-05-18 12:44 |
| #5 SPOD - sounds like a job for Halliburton Earthquake Division. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-05-18 08:37 |
| #4 These things do not like vibration from external sources I think I heard. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2007-05-18 07:37 |
| #3 Not as much power as you may expect. A read centrifuge uses about 40 watts. 1600 of these use less electricity than a decent Home Depot lighting section (I'm just barely kidding). A 240 volt 225kVA transformer feed is enough to power a 3,000 centrifuge cascade, let alone common industrial 480V power feeds. Power conditioning and heat removal solutions are well known. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-05-18 07:32 |
| #2 "And these things, even if underground, require a very visible, and vulnerable, electricity supply." I'm not sure about that. Electromagnetic separation requires a huge supply of electricity to power the electromagnets in the cyclotrons. But I suspect the power required to run centrifuges is lower by several orders of magnitude. If not, where would all the energy go? Into heating up bearings or heating up the UF6 gas, neither of which is desireable. I suspect that the energy needs of even a large assemblage of centrifuges could be met by a moderate-sized diesel generation plant, and that can be kept underground with its intake/exhaust system distributed to reduce both thermal signature and vulnerability to attack. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2007-05-18 07:26 |
| #1 all running smoothly Not very likely. And these things, even if underground, require a very visible, and vulnerable, electricity supply. |
| Posted by: John Frum 2007-05-18 07:08 |