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Tuesday, November 17, 2009


 

The Iranian nuclear program and those who criticize it


The New York Times leads with the scare story that the IAEA is worried about Iran:
International inspectors who gained access to Iran’s newly revealed underground nuclear enrichment plant voiced strong suspicions in a report on Monday that the country was concealing other atomic facilities.
...
The inspectors confirmed American and European intelligence reports that the site had been built to house about 3,000 centrifuges, enough to produce enough material for one or two nuclear weapons a year. But that is too small to be useful in the production of fuel for civilian nuclear power, which is what Iran insists is the intended purpose of the site.
Really? And what is the status of Iran's main nuclear plant in Natanz, which everyone agrees is capable of production of nuclear fuel, even if some claim its "real" purpose is otherwise? This:
The IAEA inspectors also found that Iran had recently reduced the number of centrifuges enriching uranium at its main Natanz site by 650 to 3,936, while slightly raising the total number of machines installed to 8,692.
So a plant which is operating 4000 centrifuges can (and is) making fuel for nuclear power, but a plant with 3000 centrifuges is incapable of doing so and therefore must be intended to make nuclear weapons? Man, that's some "tipping point"!

And, in a side note, it's widely recognized that world opinion of Israel is plummeting. Just how bad it is getting can be judged from this article from the Associated Press no less, albeit from a reporter based in Iran:

One of the country's most concerned about the Iranian program is Israel and on Tuesday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the world about Iran while riding in a submarine capable of firing nuclear-tipped missiles.
Cue Nelson Muntz. As well as the AP copy editor; the plural of "country" is, of course, "countries."


// posted @ 11/17/2009 11:19:00 AM // 

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