Iran has enough fuel for a nuclear bomb, IAEA report says

[bananas]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-nuclear20-2009feb20,0,3140113.story

Iran has enough fuel for a nuclear bomb, report says

The report by the IAEA, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, surprises diplomats and arms control experts. Officials note that major obstacles remain to building a weapon.

By Borzou Daragahi
February 20, 2009

Reporting from Tehran -- Iran has enough nuclear fuel to build a bomb if it decides to take the drastic steps of violating its international treaty obligations, kicking out inspectors and further refining its supply, U.N. officials and arms control experts said Thursday.

<snip>

One expert, David Albright of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, said he was "blindsided" by the report.

<snip>

Senior officials close to the Vienna-based IAEA told reporters and arms control experts in a conference call Thursday evening that Iranian officials said they had "miscalculated" their stockpile of low-enriched uranium, an error that was cleared up with agency officials in mid-November but never made public.

<snip>

But Iranian officials have barred inspections of facilities producing centrifuge parts, a move arms control inspectors say adds to worries that Iran may build an undeclared centrifuge facility separate from Natanz.

<snip>

Iran has also barred inspectors from its heavy-water reactor near Arak, which has concerned inspectors who hope to examine the site for possible telltale "clandestine" features that could be used in a weapons program, said a high-ranking U.N. official.

<snip>

[bananas]

1. 'Iranian officials said they had "miscalculated" their stockpile of low-enriched uranium'

Yeah, right.
Are they incompetent, or are they lying?

[TheWraith]

3. I'm gonna go with lying.

If all you really want is nuclear power, you don't need to enrich uranium at all. Just buy CANDU reactors from the Canadians and save yourself a lot of international grief.

The Iranians would have to be dumb not to want the bomb long term. Pakistan and Israel both have it, two of the biggest threats to Iran's regional interests.

[Idealism]

7. How would Iran purchase these Canadian reactors around international sanctions?

A bit tough, don't you think?

[TheWraith]

9. The international sanctions tightened because they're enriching uranium.

Self fulfilling prophecy. Besides which, if they wanted to cut a deal to stop producing uranium in exchange for safe, non-proliferating reactors, I doubt anyone would object.

[Idealism]

10. Actually Canada imposed sanctions on Iran around the same time the US has

Right after Iran/Contra, our northern neighbor put restrictions on Iran. Canada has no need for anything Iranian, as they have large quantities of their own natural gas fields and oil reserves, so this was seen as a consequence-free way to strengthen ties to the US

[NNadir]

4. They're Muslims. We all know what antinukes think of Muslims having uranium.

Now, it actually happens that Iran sits on a fairly recoverable grade of uranium, implying of course by the same logic that they set off to kill Iraqis, that yuppie brats in the West should beginning screaming for war and death, delivered by dangerous fossil fuel powered machines.

I personally am more concerned that the Iranians will not get to fuel their reactor, which would be a great tragedy, since dangerous fossil fuel plants kill in war, during peace, during accidents, and when they operate. Nuclear plants have a much superior performance in these areas.

[tom_paine]

8. They are lying like Bushies, of course. The Bushies were "incompetent", too.

"Incompetent" like a murderous fox.

[Idealism]

2. The UN needs to be more balanced when it comes to nuclear issues.

Italy and Israel get a pass for their nuclear programs, even though they are right-wing governments (soon to be RW for Israel), yet we want to hound Iran even after NIE reports showing they have dismantled their nuclear weapons program in 2003... the MSM trying to gin up fear again.

[NNadir]

5. Right on!

[AZCat]

6. I hope they wouldn't be that stupid.

Why waste perfectly good nuclear fuel on a dangerous, expensive, and ultimately worthless weapons system?

[phantom power]

11. What if they do get an a-bomb?

That's like a distant 20th place on the list of things that threaten my actual security. Hell, it might even increase our security, if it acted as a deterrent to American fucking-around in the middle east.