re: #467 LudwigVanQuixote

This is completely wrong. Uranium needs to be much higher enriched for a bomb than for a power plant. You need about a kg of it for a fission bomb. It takes a long time to refine to the purities needed.

How long, though with say, the 3000 centrifuges Iran has so far? Everybody is freaked about Iran’s capabilities being about a year away, and they are 50,000 centrifuges short of their goal for a power plant. This article says 3000 is enough to produce a warhead. (Given enough further enrichment time, I guess.) If 60,000 centrifuges produces 30 tons a year of 5% enriched, then how long with 3000 to make 1000 grams of 20%? From what I’m reading about Iraq’s nuclear program, they weren’t necessarily developing a weapon that even needed 60,000 centrifuges either, (or 90% enriched) as the technology was more like what was used for the Manhatten Project. Saying Saddam couldn’t have possibly had a nuke program because they didn’t haul away 60,000 centrifuges doesn’t make sense. It’s not the only possibility.