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Revealed: Iranian Site for Production of Uranium Metal and Nuclear Weapons Components

(Institute for Science and International Security) David Albright, Olli Heinonen, Frank Pabian, and Andrea Stricker - Documentation from the Iranian Nuclear Archive seized by Israel reveals a major, former nuclear weapons site that was not previously identified. The most likely purpose of this site was as a production-scale facility to produce uranium metal components for nuclear weapons. A key step in the manufacturing of a nuclear warhead is the production of its fissile material components. A facility was designed to turn high enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6) to uranium metal, cast it, and machine components to their final forms to be assembled in the warhead itself. The decision to build a production-scale plant would imply that Iran had gained confidence in making uranium components for nuclear weapons and was implementing a plan to build them in the near future.
2019-01-14 00:00:00
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