Neutralizing Iran’s Nuclear Material During a War Is ‘Nearly Mission Impossible’

About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges of neutralizing Iran's highly enriched uranium amidst military conflict.

America went to war in Iran, we’re told, because the idea of the country developing nuclear weapons was intolerable. Nukes are complicated and technical weapons that require scientists and experts to build, maintain, and manage. Highly enriched uranium (HEU) is core to the design and unless all of Iran’s HEU is accounted for the threat of it becoming a nuclear power will linger. So what would it take to get rid of Iran’s stockpile HEU? François Diaz-Maurin is on Angry Planet today to answer that question. Diaz-Maurin is editor for nuclear affairs at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists where he recently published an article outlining what it would take for US troops to neutralize Iran’s highly enriched uranium . How a civil engineer becomes a nuclear journalist “You can’t bomb away nuclear material.” “Technically, it’s nearly Mission Impossible.” How much highly enriched uranium (HEU) was left after last year’s strikes? Moving HEU around Iran What we can learn from satellite photos and the International Atomic Energy Agency Why 60%? Managing scuba tanks full of gaseous toxins in a war zone Why blowing up the cylinders won’t work “Let me throw something weird at you.”…

People in this episode

Guest: François Diaz-Maurin

Topics covered

• Iran
• nuclear weapons
• highly enriched uranium
• military strategy

Keywords

• nuclear affairs
• Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
• US troops
• war zone

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Iran, America, US

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