Comments on: Enough For One Bomb

By: Alex Knapp

Alex Knapp — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:35:11 +0000

So what happens if Iran gets the bomb anyway? Israel finally announces what everyone knows--they have them, too. So we have a renewed MAD doctrine in the Middle East? Does anyone think that Iran is so suicidal that they'd risk their own nuclear annihilation for the sake of an unprovoked attack on Israel? Please. The Mullahs aren't idiots.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:55:36 +0000

As has already been mentioned, processing raw Uranium ore into low-grade Uranium fuel is not particularly difficult, some naturally occurring ore is already enriched enough to produce fission. Processing that into weapons grade material is by far the most difficult part. A uranium bomb will also not give them as much yield.

That said, Charles is right that it's only a matter of time before Iran can build a Uranium bomb. Weapons grade plutonium is significantly easier to produce once you have reactor-grade Uranium, but building a plutonium bomb is also significantly more complicated that a uranium bomb.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:59:40 +0000

It's funny you should mention that, Bithead. I've been saying for some time that small numbers of nuclear weapons are better thought of as targets than as deterrents.

By: Bithead

Bithead — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:49:56 +0000

It's time to break out the Pirahnna Brothers.

Hey, that's a nice bomb you've got there, Gov. It'd be same if anything were to happen to it....

Like it might blow up or something....

By: charles austin

charles austin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:26:19 +0000

And if your non-military options don't work, then what? Just shrug your shoulders and say, "Whoops! My bad." What if it cannot be prevented with soft power? What criteria can be used for determining that soft power won't work? Meanwhile, eventually the arguments offered as to why Iran is still far away from having a working nuclear weapon will eventually morph into sure they did it once but here are the reasons they'll have trouble doing it again. The only question is whether this is after an underground test somewhere in Iran or an above ground test somewhere in Israel.

By: Jake - but not the one

Jake - but not the one — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:37:31 +0000

It is a very long way from sufficiently processed fuel for reactors to sufficiently processed fuel for a bomb. Every nation that has fuel for reactors has the fuel for reprocessing into bomb material. It just isn't that easy.

Even so, I don't think that this news proves anything except that Iran can produce reactor grade fuel, which is completely in line with their public statements.

We don't need more bombs, that's a given. But, given that Gates is talking about new bombs for the US, it's not hard to imagine why other countries might want the bomb as well. As a deterrent, it is a spectacular weapon.

By: Alex Knapp

Alex Knapp — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:26:00 +0000

It's worth noting, though, that the "added purification" is a tricky part. If you don't do it right, you won't get a chain reaction and your bomb is a dud. Plus, if it's taken this long for Iran to get enough low quality material for one bomb, color me not all that worried about their technical capabilities...