[Boston Globe ] Peter D. Zimmerman - Iran is testing an improved third generation of indigenously codeveloped enrichment centrifuges, the IR-3 series, demonstrating its technical mastery of the technology. It has 320 tons of uranium hexafluoride gas to feed its centrifuges, enough for almost 100 bombs. Iran announced months ago that it is installing 6,000 centrifuges in its uranium enrichment plant, in addition to the 3,000 in operation. The new ones have twice the capacity of the originals. If Iran begins enriching uranium to weapons grade on an assembly-line basis, it could transfer this material to groups such as Hizbullah and Hamas, which might fabricate low-technology nuclear explosives. These would probably have yields nearly as high as the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. The writer is emeritus professor of science and security at King's College London and the former chief scientist of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
2008-07-07 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive