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**Poreponko** · 08-19-2010, 05:18 AM

I'm not sure where you got this fact from but it's not going to be fabricating plutonium it's a uranium reactor.

Plutonium is a natural end product from fissioning uranium in a reactor, so Iran will certainly have the ability to produce it once their reactor is online. However, extracting it from the fuel rods is not an easy process and, as far as the IAEA knows, Iran doesn't have the facilities to do this.

But why would you want plutonium when you have the ability to enrich uranium? Mass needed for criticality is far less - in other words, you need less of it to go boom.

08-19-2010, 05:18 AM	#32
Poreponko Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 486 Senior Member	I'm not sure where you got this fact from but it's not going to be fabricating plutonium it's a uranium reactor. Plutonium is a natural end product from fissioning uranium in a reactor, so Iran will certainly have the ability to produce it once their reactor is online. However, extracting it from the fuel rods is not an easy process and, as far as the IAEA knows, Iran doesn't have the facilities to do this. But why would you want plutonium when you have the ability to enrich uranium? Mass needed for criticality is far less - in other words, you need less of it to go boom.
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