enriched uranium

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Iranian Move a 'Challenge' to World's Nonproliferation

Per IRNA, nation is enriching uranium to 60% purity, a step away from weapons-grade levels

(Newser) - Iran has begun producing enriched uranium at 60% purity at the country's underground Fordo nuclear plant, official media reported Tuesday, describing it as a response to a resolution by the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. The increased enrichment, reported by the official news agency IRNA, was seen as a significant...

Iran Makes 2 Big Moves Against the West

Country seizes South Korean tanker, increases nuclear enrichment

(Newser) - Iran began enriching uranium Monday to levels unseen since its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and also seized a South Korean-flagged tanker near the crucial Strait of Hormuz, a double-barreled challenge to the West that further raised Mideast tensions. Both decisions appeared aimed at increasing Tehran's leverage in...

A 'Worrisome' Development: Iran 'Has a Pathway to a Bomb'

IAEA reports say Iran's low-enriched uranium stockpile has tripled

(Newser) - When the Trump administration took the US out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the idea was to instead impose sanctions to pressure Iran to stop developing its nuclear program. Now, "the numbers suggest a different reality"—that Iran "now has a pathway to a bomb,"...

Site Meant for Research Has Been Enriching Uranium: UN Watchdog

It looks like Fordo underground facility is in violation of 2015 nuclear deal

(Newser) - The United Nations' nuclear watchdog has confirmed that Iran is now enriching uranium at its underground Fordo facility, a move prohibited by the 2015 nuclear deal. That's according to a confidential quarterly report that was distributed to member states and seen by the AP on Monday. Iran invited inspectors...

Iran Breaches Uranium Limits
Iran Breaches Uranium Limits
Jul 8, 2019 3:41 PM CDT

Iran Breaches Uranium Limits

It's now enriching uranium to 4.5%

(Newser) - Iran on Monday began enriching uranium to 4.5%, just breaking the limit set by its nuclear deal with world powers, while it is still seeking a way for Europe to help it bypass US sanctions amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington. The acknowledgement by the spokesman of the...

Iran Had an 'Unwelcome Milestone.' Now, a New Defiance

Uranium enrichment will be 'as much as we want it to be,' President Hassan Rouhani says

(Newser) - Iran announced an "unwelcome milestone" this week: It has 660 pounds of low-enriched uranium stockpiled, a violation of the 2015 nuclear deal the US pulled out of last year. The Washington Post notes that reserve on its own doesn't bring the country much closer to being able to...

Ohio School Shuts Doors Over Radioactive Contamination

Enriched uranium detected near former nuclear plant

(Newser) - A scary situation got school shut down for summer break a week early in Piketon, Ohio: reports of radioactive contamination on the campus. Superintendent Todd Burkitt of the Scioto Valley Local School District has urged calm despite positive tests for enriched uranium inside Zahn's Corner Middle School and evidence...

US Keeping Nukes in Case of ... Asteroids?

Threat cited as reason to keep old warheads

(Newser) - Somebody's been watching Armageddon: American nuclear authorities say they have delayed getting rid of old warhead components because they could help protect the world from killer asteroids. Authorities say the warheads are being kept "pending a senior-level government evaluation of their use in planetary defense against earthbound asteroids,...

Japan to US: Have Our Nuclear Cache

Japan to hand over plutonium, uranium to be converted into ' less sensitive forms'

(Newser) - A big win for President Obama: Japan today announced it will hand over some 700 pounds of weapons-grade plutonium as well as an estimated 450 pounds of highly enriched uranium to the US, reports the New York Times , which calls it the "biggest single success in President Obama's...

Iran's Nuclear 'Plan B': Plutonium

Until now, international powers have been focusing on uranium

(Newser) - The Telegraph has details today of what it calls Iran's "Plan B," a second path to creating a nuclear bomb: New satellite images show that Iran has activated its Arak heavy-water production plant; heavy water could eventually power a nuclear reactor that would produce plutonium for bomb-making....

Ahmadinejad: We May Stop High-Grade Enrichment If...

...we get 20% enriched fuel from other countries

(Newser) - The latest in Iran's see-sawing over uranium enrichment : President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad implied the country would halt its high-grade enrichment, as demanded by the US, as long as it was still provided with the fuel it needs. "From the beginning the Islamic Republic has stated that if European countries...

Iran: We're Building a Nuclear Sub

Project can be used to justify nuclear enrichment

(Newser) - Iran says it has begun building a nuclear submarine—a move which conveniently gives it an excuse to enrich uranium to above weapons grade. An Iranian rear admiral announced the project in Iran's state-run Fars News Agency yesterday, and went out of his way to remind reporters that powering...

Kodak Couldn't Really Have Made Nuclear Warhead

Physics Central explains that nuclear reactor thing

(Newser) - Much was made of the revelation this week that Kodak once had a nuclear reactor in its basement, with even your humble Newser wondering what sort of nuclear Kodak moments the photo giant might have planned. But in truth, Kodak couldn’t have developed even one nuclear warhead, Physics Central...

In Kodak's Basement: Nuclear Reactor

Imaging giant had enriched uranium in Rochester

(Newser) - Would nuclear war have made a good Kodak moment? Until 2006, the company could have found out: It had 3.5 pounds of weapons-grade uranium stashed in a nuclear reactor in the basement of its headquarters—right in the busy city of Rochester, New York. It remains unclear why the...

North Korea to Launch 3rd Test 'Soon'

'Preparations are almost complete,' source says

(Newser) - North Korea isn't done thumbing its nose at the world, and is now preparing to launch a third nuclear weapons test, a senior source tells Reuters . When asked if North Korea was planning another nuclear test, following its much-condemned 2006 and 2009 demonstrations, the official replied, "Soon. Preparations...

Confirmed: Iran Enriching Uranium Underground

Higher level of enrichment at Fordo prompts international concern

(Newser) - Iran's claim has been confirmed: The country has indeed begun enriching uranium at an underground bunker, two diplomats tell the AP today. They call the news particularly worrying because the Fordo site is being used to make material that can be upgraded more quickly and easily for use in...

Quietly, Canada Slips US Bomb-Grade Uranium

Nuclear material moving as part of recent agreement

(Newser) - Canada is discreetly moving hundreds of pounds of weapons-grade uranium to the US, with one payload already across the border, a confidential memo obtained by the Canadian Press reveals. The shipments are the result of a pact President Obama and Canadian PM Stephen Harper signed last year to keep the...

US Secretly Sends Ukraine's Uranium to Russia

...in an effort to destroy it

(Newser) - The US carried out a secret operation this week in which 110 pounds of highly enriched uranium—enough to make two atomic bombs—were sent from Ukraine to Russia, as part of the Obama administration’s not-at-all secret push to secure the world’s nuclear material. Russia intends to blend...

Iran: We Can Process Our Own Uranium

Claims independence in nuclear cycle a day ahead of Geneva talks

(Newser) - Iran is processing its first batch of home-grown uranium, the nation's nuke chief said today, claiming total independence in the nuclear fuel cycle just a day ahead of Geneva talks meant to dissuade the country from its nuclear program. "Today, we witnessed the shipment of the first domestically produced...

N. Korea Unveils New Nuke Plant

Move could signal more aggressive program or be negotiating tactic

(Newser) - North Korea has unveiled a dazzling new uranium-enrichment plant to a visiting US scientist, reports the New York Times, and scientists confirm the country is building a light-water reactor elsewhere. Siegfried Hecker, former chief of Los Alamos, said he saw "hundreds and hundreds" of centrifuges operated by an "...

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