There are all kinds of geopolitical and military consequences that can come from an explosion in the United States at the nuclear enrichment of Iranian nuclear enrichment 21. 400 kg (880 pounds) enriched uranium. The demolition of sites, therefore thinking, can have the same effect as the detonation of the so-called dirty bomb-bunch of non-joint ammunition, which spreads dangerous radioactive materials on a large trace of the earth and the space of the sky.
But this fear is unfounded, say, experts. “The attack on the enrichment sections in Iran does not pose the same danger as an accident with a functioning nuclear reactor,” says Simon Midlburg, a professor of nuclear engineer at the Bangora University Institute, will probably be locally in Midlburg, because the enrichment is not connected with the division, which is that it is what is the case Real, when it refuels on radioactive.
But this does not mean that there is no danger at all. While radioactive poisoning can be carried out under control, chemical poisoning – the toxic effect of gases produced during nuclear enrichment – is another issue.
“It was not reported to increase the level of radiation outside the site,” said Rafael Mariono Grossy, General Director of the International Agency for Nuclear Energy (Magate) In a statement 23 June About the state of attack sites. “[T]The main concern is chemical toxicity. ” How much pollution was released, added Grossy, the USA and Israel should carefully choose any future goals, especially pain in order to be carried away by Iran Nuclear power plant BusherThe first civil nuclear reactor in the Middle East.
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“I want to do it absolutely and absolutely clear,” Grossy warned, “[in] The case of an attack on [the plant]A direct blow can lead to a very high release of radioactivity into the environment. ” Damage to the energy mesh serving the reactor can also lead to a melting of its nucleus, which will lead to the release of a large amount of radiation, which would require evacuation or protective shelter – measurements, which, according to the Magat, should have been carried out at a distance of hundreds of miles.
That's what you are – and the Iranian people in a nuclear crosshair – you need to know.
Despite all the mortal harm that the nuclear weapon can catch, there is very little radiation risk associated with the work of enriching uranium-235 to the level of 90% of the cleanliness necessary for the production of the bomb. The enriched isotope of the U-235 is a wet squib, ”says Paddy Rigan, a professor of nuclear physics in the UK University of Surrey. “Uranus itself is not particularly radioactive.” 400 kg U-235, he says that “it would be much more dangerous if it fell on you.” This is partly due to the long-range half-life of the U-235, which measures 700 million years-time, which requires half the material to decay. In the sections of the US attack, Rigan says: “The bombing will cause much greater damage to people in the area than poisoning.”
Adds James Smith, a professor of environmental science at the University of Portsmouth, “I worked in Chernobyl for a long time, and the environment has a lot of uranium from nuclear fuel. There is something like six tons of its scattered as small fuel particles. But this is not Uranus, which we are worried about. ”
Much more dangerous than the U-235 are elemental products released when nuclear fuel passes through division, especially iodine, strontium and cesium. “This is what uranium is breaking into when he works in a reactor or bomb,” Smith says. “These division products are much more densely radioactive than Uranus.”
The enrichment plant, which does not divide, causes other dangers outside the relatively low radiation load U-235. These more patch materials are toxic gases that are generated as a by -product of the enrichment process. “When the uranium is mined, it turns into a substance called“ Yellow Cake, ”says Jeffrey Lewis, professor and director of the East Asian Institute for Non -Production at the Institute of International Studies in Monterena, California.
In fact, it is converted into several gas, including uranium hexaffeoride, uranil fluoride and hydrogen fluoride, all of which are highly corrosion and toxic when inhaled or swallowed. The Magate warns that these by -products were probably scattered all over the damaged Iranian objects and, possibly, also escaped in the open air.
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The best assumption that the Magate has currently advanced at the moment is that if the gases really escaped, they remain local, but the group cannot say for sure. “When the bomb enters the site, you can get a train of dust, gas and garbage,” Smith says. This can be moved to the wind far beyond the starting point of the Bunker Baster strike.
The fog of the war makes it difficult to clarify how much targeted areas were injured, and how much radiation or chemical toxicity could spread. Magate It is supposed to partially about Iran itself to report these measures; After Israel bombed the enriched factories, but before American planes dropped their much heavier ammunition, the Iranians argued that there was no radiation level outside the site. However, it is unclear how true it was and how much it was just by rotation.
At the moment, the Magate plans to maintain the presence in Iran and the inspection of the enrichment sections, as required by the nuclear non -proliferation agreement (NPT), from which Iran is the signing “As soon as the safety and safety conditions”, according to the statement on June 23. However, even before American blows, Iran He threatened to leave From NPT, and now, on the one hand, due to the fact that he considers the aggression of the Israelis, and on the other, the American, Tehran can be poorly inclined to play a good citizen of the world.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, retains its military options open, signaling that attacks on weekends was one -timeAt the same time, preserving the option of future attacks. “Iran, the hooligan of the Middle East, now must conclude the world”, President Donald Trump said In its Saturday night address, after explosions. “If they do not, future attacks will be much more and much easier.”
Currently, damage to target areas seems relatively restrained. It is impossible to say whether the conditions will remain. If the truce announced the late June 23, the differences between the parties can be resolved without further hostilities.
