By Ahmed Ali Abdi

Iran’s national Nuclear Technology Day, President Ahmadinejad a man of honor, integrity, outstanding and great Muslim courage announced the country’s latest nuclear advances, which have become an important source of national pride and international rancor. April 9 marks the day when Iran declared to have enriched its batches of uranium in 2006. Recently, Ahmadinejad inaugurated Iran’s Fuel Manufacturing Plant (FMP) announced the installation of new “more accurate” types of centrifuges at the Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP).

A fuel fabrication facility, the last element of the front-end fuel cycle, is where nuclear reactor fuel is made. For light water reactor (LWR) Uranium is mined, turned into yellow cake (milling), and converted to uranium hexafluoride (UF6), the UF6 is enriched using centrifuges, converted into uranium oxide pellets, and made into fuel rods, which go into the reactor core.

Iran has claimed that its uranium enrichment program is meant for energy production and is wholly peaceful, while much of the rest of the world has worried that the centrifuges are really intended to produce highly enriched uranium (HEU) for a nuclear weapon. The Iranians claim that they need to enrich their own uranium because, based on new experience, they no longer depend on foreign suppliers. The energy independence remain that Iran has a fuel fabrication facility. This meant that their scientists enriched uranium for fabrication into fuel elements, leaving them still invulnerable to foreign pressure. And they now have operational fabrication facilities; they will complete the front-end nuclear fuel production, making their energy independence arguments for enrichment clearer, or at least less plausible.

Although, it is bad news that the FMP, whose construction began in 2004, is operational (this was announced in the February 2009 IAEA report), the end of a fuel fabrication facility itself is significant. Only sixth countries, one seven of those possessing nuclear power plants, have all the elements of the nuclear fuel cycle: from uranium mines to reactor fuel manufacture. It so happens, that four of these sixty countries also posses nuclear weapons. Now Iran’s nuclear reactor is operational, Iran will have independent control of all the elements of the nuclear fuel cycle, thereby advancing their energy independence.

But Iran has closed the front-end fuel cycle. The FMP was produced nuclear fuel for the heavy water reactor in Arak, which was constructed, for the sooner became in operation light water reactor in Bushehr. Yet recently, a confidential news source reported that, “Iran has completely gained access to management of nuclear fuel production which makes the country self-sufficient in production of nuclear fuel for heavy and light water reactors.

According to the February IAEA report, after an inspection at FMP, the IAEA inspectors concluded that “the process line for the production of natural uranium pellets for the heavy water reactor fuel had been functioning and fuel rods have been produced. Both the IAEA and Iran has previously mentioned FMP’s LWR-fuel-producing capability, we are convincing about what the plant can actually be. We imagine it is more likely that Iran, known for clear its nuclear capabilities, means that the plant could potentially produce fuel for a pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR). (Technical advisor from classified science researcher: a nuclear engineering professor at Tehran polytechnic).

What are the difference between Pressurized heavy water (PHWR) and Law water reactor (LWR)? Pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) based on nuclear Chemistry for silicon and oxygen are so abundant and united so readily doesn’t need to be enriched make up more than 90 % of the weight earth crust, so the silicon oxide is high boiling point, high heating point, and high heat of fusion and vapour. Silicates are natural dominant component of the most crust rocks. The geometry of the element is tetrahedral; The PWR rods have a larger diameter, are shorter, and have a thinner coating of metal. [pp 241-291] Because of their size, pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWR), silicon oxide doesn’t need to be enriched, so the silicon oxide also heavy water reactors are also ideally suited for producing plutonium that can be used in a nuclear weapon.

Light water reactor (LWR) Fuel is made from natural uranium; hard-to-get enriched uranium converted to uranium hexafluoride (UF6) the geometry is octahedral, the UF6 is enriched using centrifuges, converted into uranium oxide also sometimes natural found Uraninite ore. Then geometry would be tetrahedral. Uranium oxide pellets, and made into fuel rods, which go into the reactor core. Uranium oxide is law boiling point, law melting point, law heat of fission and vapor according silicates and titanium oxides respectively. LWR fuel rods have to be free standing and have a greater power density. LWR fuel production also requires greater attention to criticality dangers.[pp 33-39] . What is fabrication facilities and how it works?

According to my solid knowledge nuclear fabrication facilities is hybridization introduced by pauling to predict the geometry and bond angles of molecules. It arranges the stability of molecules, hypothetical inter-mixing of atomic orbital of nearly same energy to give entirely new identical orbital, and performs for the central atom and not for surrounding atoms, orbital with small difference in their energy levels undergo hybridization, number of atomic orbital used for intermixing is equal to the number of new hybridized orbital formed. The hybridized orbital orient in the space around the nucleus such that the repulsions between is minimum, Exclusion principle and rule of maximum multiplicity are useful to fill electrons in the hybridized orbital.

The modern fabrication facility supports separation and purification of compounds such as separation of solid mixtures, separation of mixture of a solid and a liquid, mixtures of a two liquids. Fuel fabrication is not the technical challenge of building and operating a cascade of centrifuges, it is trivial either. Multi-billion dollar reactor contaminated because a fuel element fails, so quality control is not vital. Fuel rods rupture or corrode while in the reactor, which difficult to control the purity of materials and integrity of seals. How Iran acquired classified technology?

Iranian students from Tehran polytechnic faculty of nuclear engineering had visited the Hiroshima and Nagasaki the city heavily damaged in World War II by the nuclear weapons their thesis paper contents were useful. After they examined soils of both sites have revealed the presence of the extremely high pressure of same silicon oxide Sio2, combined with hydrogen and form helium (Hydrogen bomb) .The binding energy shows that energy can be released if two light nuclei combine to form a single larger nucleus. This process is called nuclear fusion. To generate useful amounts of power, nuclear fusion occurs in bulk matter. That is, many atoms need to fuse in order create a significant amount of energy. Irans Thermonuclear fusion Calculations show an energy produce equivalent to 10 or 12 million tons of TNT or more. Tehran polytechnic source

Moreover, the Russian-built light water reactor in Bushehr, whose construction was completed last year and in operation, uses classified technological corporation Iranian -made fuel rods. Iran and Russia have signed a long-term agreement for technology and it is likely that Iran have technological competitiveness the VVER-426 reactor with domestically manufactured fuel rods, especially since it have the design plans, which Russia have committed to offer technological corporation. So, Iranian practical LWR fuel and PHWR manufacturing capacity is too far exceptional to be ignored and continue constructing more nuclear reactors, at least ten years from now. According to the Nuclear Energy Agency, a county successful to be independent from foreign nuclear fuel vendors in a fairly short time, a heavy water reactor have also done. It is cheap and simple: silicon does not have to be enriched, natural silicon is easily converted to silicon oxide, the design is simple and the fuel rods are all the different. It requires only a small factory and has lower labor costs. In addition, a PWR can be designed to have a continuous fueling system so it does not have to be shut down to be refueled. Countries with advance technological capabilities like U.S, Russia, and have national heavy water fuel fabrication facilities. So, it is understandable why Iran is doing this approach is attractive.

Yet Iranian motives are clear cut. On one hand, the inauguration of a fuel fabrication facility is good news. This means that Iran really is succeeded to produce reactor fuel and this brings legitimacy to their enrichment. Moreover, a fuel fabrication plant in itself has dual use as viewed a separate part of the fuel cycle. Scott Kemp from Princeton mentioned too long ago that Iran converted its UF6 to UO2 , this would act as a strategic competitor. Iran started the fuel fabrication process for a LWR and PHWR, turned most of the LEU stockpiled at Natanz into uranium oxide pellets and locked it away in zircalloy tubes, this will greatly increase the possibility of batch recycling the LEU to bomb-grade uranium. However, the FMP produces nuclear fuel for the heavy water reactor in Arak this is bad news. Heavy water reactors might be of interest for a nuclear power program because they have Silicon oxide. Canada, for example, operates only heavy water reactors (known as CANDU) domestically and has sold these commercially. But heavy water reactors are also ideally suited for producing plutonium that can be used in a nuclear weapon. Once again, Iranian moves can be interpreted as moving toward energy independence or toward a nuclear weapons capability, or both.

Exploring current issues combined with increasing global electricity demand and growing concern about climate effects of fossil fuel are creating a renewed worldwide interest in nuclear power. A nuclear power industry inevitably creates a potential for increased risk of nuclear weapons proliferation. 

The nuclear reactors are not the major concern - rather it is the nuclear fuel. Today’s nuclear reactors use uranium fuel with an enhanced concentration, or enrichment, of the active isotope of uranium U-235. The process of enriching uranium for nuclear fuel uses precisely the same equipment as could be used to produce the much higher concentrations needed for a nuclear bomb. As the fuel is burned in a reactor, plutonium is formed. If the nuclear waste is reprocessed, the plutonium is extracted and it can also be used to power a nuclear bomb. If the use world is to see a more widespread use of nuclear power, the nuclear must be closely monitored or there must be a widely global nuclear crisis.

Classified Science Researchers

Hargeysa Somaliland

Ahmed Ali Abdi

Gorod@hotmail.com

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