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Yeah, that's going to happen
Sep. 24th, 2009 05:56 amAhmadinejad offers to buy US uranium.
He's offering to buy uranium that is 20% enriched, with the idea that it's to be used to produce nuclear medicines. Nuclear medicines don't directly use uranium; rather they use the fission and decay products of the uranium. In that light, hey, you know, doesn't sound bad, right?
Because, you know, he says that a bomb needs uranium enriched to 99.7%, so we could sell Iran the 20% enriched uranium. Except, of course, that he's wrong. Nuclear weapons typically contain 85% enriched U-235, and a crude, horribly inefficient weapon could be as low as... wait for it... 20% enriched. Huh. (To note, the less uranium is enriched, the more you need for critical mass. At 85% enriched, you need 55 kilograms. At 20% enriched, you need 400 kilograms, and at 15% enriched, you need over 600 kilograms.)
So, yeah, I don't see the U.S. falling for this.
He's offering to buy uranium that is 20% enriched, with the idea that it's to be used to produce nuclear medicines. Nuclear medicines don't directly use uranium; rather they use the fission and decay products of the uranium. In that light, hey, you know, doesn't sound bad, right?
Because, you know, he says that a bomb needs uranium enriched to 99.7%, so we could sell Iran the 20% enriched uranium. Except, of course, that he's wrong. Nuclear weapons typically contain 85% enriched U-235, and a crude, horribly inefficient weapon could be as low as... wait for it... 20% enriched. Huh. (To note, the less uranium is enriched, the more you need for critical mass. At 85% enriched, you need 55 kilograms. At 20% enriched, you need 400 kilograms, and at 15% enriched, you need over 600 kilograms.)
So, yeah, I don't see the U.S. falling for this.