Iran agrees to nuclear fuel swap, with caveats

[TomCADem]

Source: Associated Press

MANAMA, Bahrain – Iran is ready to exchange the bulk of its stockpile of enriched uranium for nuclear fuel rods — as proposed by the U.N. — but according to its own mechanisms and timetable, the foreign minister said Saturday.

The minister's remarks come just days before an expected meeting between the U.S. and allies to discuss new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. The offer, however, falls far short of the conditions set by the international community.

Speaking to reporters at a regional security conference in Bahrain, Manochehr Mottaki said Iran agreed with a U.N. deal proposed in October in which up to 2,600 pounds (1,200 kilograms) of its uranium would be exchanged for fuel rods to power its research reactor.

"We accepted the proposal in principle," he said through a translator. "We suggested in the first phase we give you 400 kilograms of 3.5 percent enriched uranium and you give us the equivalent in 20 percent uranium."


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091212/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_nuclear

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I do hope that diplomacy can work in reducing nuclear proliferation in the middle east. I know some folks are pushing for an NRA approach of saying that if everyone has nuclear weapons, then we might be safer.

[MineralMan]

1. Some reason for optimism in this.

I hope it happens.

[Imajika]

2. So basically...

..they didn't really agree to the deal. They agreed with "spirit" of the deal, but not the specifics. This is really nothing new from what I can tell.

Sounds like Iran is using this to stall the momentum building for sanctions. They are smart, they probably realize Obama has gotten Russia and China on board for sanctions at this moment in time, and they figure if they push things down the road maybe the politics will have changed by then.

[FarCenter]

3. China and Russia will probably agree with the phased approach

Iran would be completely stupid to let all their uranium out of the country at the same time.

It would most likely be immediately seized on some pretext.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4181298

[CLANG]

4. The NRA approach has worked well with firearms.

The indisputable fact is that the more proliferation of nuclear weapons, the greater the chance that one is lost, stolen, or sold to extra-nationalists, which will increase the likelihood that they will be used against the United States and our allies (or anywhere in the world for that matter). Restricting the sale and development of these weapons is the only way to deal with the problem.

[boppers]

6. It's the fear people have of these weapons that seems to change the game.

The following paragraph has two words changed from yours:
"The indisputable fact is that the more proliferation of ballistic missiles, the greater the chance that one is lost, stolen, or sold to extra-nationalists, which will increase the likelihood that they will be used against the United States and our allies (or anywhere in the world for that matter). Restricting the sale and development of these weapons is the only way to deal with the problem."

Ballistic missiles are all over the world, and yet, massive catastrophe hasn't happened. Change the words back, and people go bug-eyed with fear, for some reason.

A nuclear bomb is fairly simple (64 years old now) technology, it's become impossible to really restrict it in any meaningful way in the long run. The secrets protected being now aren't how to build a nuclear weapon (that research can be found, like everything else, on the internet), but how to do so efficiently, with maximum yield for the build costs involved.

[CLANG]

7. It doesn't seem all that easy to me. But I'm not a nuclear physicist.

Anyway, point taken. I think intercontinental ballistic missiles are only made in a handful of countries and they are generally controlled by secure means by governments. Also, a ballistic missile without a working nuke is not very scary, but a nuke without a ballistic missile is!

[boppers]

8. I had an interesting experience when I visited the first nuke site (Trinity).

A dirty compound of shacks in the middle of the a desert, with people running around on horseback... turns out that it isn't that difficult, and can be done fairly low tech (refinement and enrichment of the fuel requires cleaner facilities, though).

Have some URL's, in case you feel like putting a nuke together:
http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/design.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon_design

[CLANG]

9. I don't want to put one together

But even if I did, I'd run into one small problem with my plan. Where do I get the enriched uranium? (and that was a rhetorical question).

[boppers]

10. Getting Uranium is easy. People can buy it online.

http://www.imagesco.com/geiger/uranium-ore.html

Getting a lot of it, enriching it, or getting it pre-enriched, takes a lot of time and/or money, however.

[Cha]

5. Thanks Tom.