A look at the main focus of Iran nuclear talks: Iran's uranium enrichment program
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, walks outside the hotel during a break from a bilateral meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for a new round of Nuclear Talks, in Lausanne, Switzerland, Thursday, March 19, 2015. (AP Photo/Keystone,Laurent Gillieron)(The Associated Press)
LAUSANNE, Switzerland Want to understand what nuclear talks with Iran are about but don't know uranium from plutonium, or a centrifuge from a fuel cycle?
Here is a primer for the technical talks in Switzerland as U.S. and Iranian negotiators try to seal a framework agreement before the end of March, scaling back Iranian programs that can lead to nuclear weapons and easing crippling sanctions. The deadline for a final accord is end of June.
The United States' primary concern is Iran's ability to enrich uranium. Iran says its aims are for peaceful energy, medical and scientific purposes, but many governments believe it has nuclear weapons ambitions.
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WHY THE FOCUS ON URANIUM?
Uranium is a metal found in the ground around the world, most commonly in Australia, Kazakhstan, Canada and Ukraine, that can be used as an energy source. Much works goes into transforming uranium extracted at mills into fuel for a nuclear reactor or material for a weapon. Less than 1 percent of any piece of uranium pulled from the earth is the good stuff the uranium-235 isotope. For fuel, the level of that isotope must be increased to between 3.5 percent and 5 percent. To produce isotopes for cancer treatment, 20 percent is required. For weapons, the concentration must reach 90 percent. This is what nuclear experts talk about when they speak of enrichment levels. Although plutonium can also be used in bombs, the focus is on enrichment because Iran's uranium program is far more advanced.
HOW DOES ENRICHMENT WORK?
There are different methods to enrich. All concern isolating the good stuff from the less useful. For Iran's purposes, the process starts at the mill, where the uranium is separated from other metals and pounded into a fine yellow powder called yellowcake. At a conversion facility it is then transformed into gas that can be put in centrifuges. Inside the centrifuge, a rotor spins gas around the tube at thousands of times per second. That pushes the heavier uranium-238 out off to the side of the tube, and more of the slightly lighter uranium-235 to the inside. Physicists connect many of these centrifuges together, enriching the material a bit more as it goes through each machine. Such a setup is called a cascade.
WHAT DOES IRAN HAVE?
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A look at the main focus of Iran nuclear talks: Iran's uranium enrichment program