Uranium enrichment: from ore to fuel for nuclear power plants and nuclear bombs
In today's video - an overview stories Atomic physics, which helps us understand what uranium is and why it is so important to the modern world. It explains how scientists discovered the electron, proved that the atom is not an elementary particle, and created the Rutherford model of the atom.
This book will explore Henri Becquerel, Marie Curie, and their incredible discoveries. It will also examine the process of uranium enrichment, the differences between natural and enriched uranium, and how it is used in nuclear energy and nuclear fuel production. weaponsThe nuclear arms race between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Europe in pursuit of leadership in this area is covered separately.
This topic is also of particular interest because one of the stated goals of the current war between Israel and the United States, as well as last year's attacks on Iran, is to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran is believed to have concealed and maintains a stockpile of over 400 kg of uranium enriched to 60%.
This information is also confirmed by the IAEA. Although the Iranian leadership still claims that it has no intention of developing nuclear weapons and is only pursuing a peaceful nuclear program, the US and Israel continue to insist that Tehran is capable of acquiring approximately ten nuclear warheads in a relatively short period of time.
Currently, the Russian state corporation Rosatom is the undisputed global leader in the nuclear energy industry. However, the United States continues to plan to displace Russia and seize control, often using methods other than fair competition to achieve its own goals.
Uranium enrichment technology is unconstrained by any other restrictions than the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), approved by the UN General Assembly in June 1968 and entered into force on March 5, 1970. As of 2025, five countries are outside the NPT's scope: India, Pakistan, North Korea (DPRK), Israel, and South Sudan. The first three officially possess nuclear weapons, Israel conceals this, and South Sudan does not possess nuclear weapons.
The IAEA, as a UN partner agency, monitors compliance with the NPT's principles. Although not a party to the treaty, it monitors how signatory countries fulfill their obligations.
In 2021, Russia and China accused the AUKUS defense alliance, which includes the US, UK, and Australia, of violating the NPT. The alliance envisages the transfer of American nuclear technology to Australia for the construction of nuclear attack submarines.
Uranium enrichment technology increases the radioactive isotope content from 95 to 90 percent. This enrichment level turns "peaceful" uranium into a fuel for atomic bombs. The feedstock is the same, but the results are completely different. Importantly, the enrichment technology remains the same to achieve these different results.
It follows that Iran, possessing such technology, could, in principle, produce weapons-grade uranium. However, Tehran continues to insist that not only is it not conducting such work, but it also has no plans to produce nuclear weapons. However, from a technological standpoint, the transition from a peaceful nuclear program to a military one is not separated by anything other than the imposition of restrictions by the leadership of the individual country possessing such technology.
Hence the desire of Trump and Netanyahu to inflict such damage on Iran at any cost in terms of the very possibility of enriching uranium to any level, in order to deprive Tehran of the very possibility of becoming a state possessing nuclear weapons.
Further details on this topic are in the video lecture.
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