How to enrich uranium

and cheer on the apocalypse

You may have heard of a consequence of the US, in 2018 under Trump, getting rid of the Iran Nuclear Deal. The deal, made in 2015 by the Obama Administration, limited and surveilled Iran's nuclear capacity. Elected as in 2022, Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, did not like the nuclear deal—saying it could bring another Holocaust. The reason he had for his qualms were sanctions on Iran were lessened under the deal and they got financial relief for their concession. As a consequence, he wouldn't negotiate with Biden (who did not bring back the deal but wanted to) for peace in Palestine. He is happy Trump won. Trump has a policy of maximum retribution to Iran.

The above graphic is from the Obama White House

The outcome of the having no nuclear deal is maybe a bust. Iran’s nuclear program is getting no surveillance. They don’t care about our feelings and thus, Iran has made enriched uranium. They are close to making it weapon-grade. What is that and why should anyone care? Sit back for a science lesson. (or skip to next paragraph with a bold font if you want to avoid it)

Uranium is a dense heavy metal that decays--meaning it's radioactive and gives off particles and energy and transforms into a slightly lighter metal, thorium, which is also radioactive.

It emits an alpha particle, the Mac truck of subatomic particles, which is also a helium nucleus. This is where earthly helium comes from! All forms of uranium are radioactive, but not the helium it emits. Don't worry, your party balloons are safe. (If you want to learn more about sub-atomic particles, let me know!)

Uranium is unstable and thus radioactive. The word radioactive was coined by the Curies in 1898, with radio being related to ray as in a ray of light Many radioactive elements and nuclear reactions cause their surrounding to glow due to their energy. Uranium is slowly radioactive with all isotopes having long half-lives. It can be found in deposits across the globe.

Uranium can be made into a source of power when it undergoes fission. During fission, the core of the atom (the nucleus) is hit with a neutron and split into smaller pieces and new lighter elements are made. The lighter elements are more stable and the energy needed to hold the large unstable uranium together is released. More neutrons fly out and if enough atoms of the right isotope of uranium are nearby, they split other uranium atoms. A chain reaction ensues and this keeps the energy release going. If the reaction is fast enough, a bomb is created. 

Here's the catch, not all forms of uranium undergo fission. Only the isotope with 92 protons and 143 neutrons in the nucleus, uranium 235 or U-235, is unstable enough to be broken in this fashion. And it's not very plentiful. Only 0.7% of naturally occurring uranium is this isotope. And to allow for the chain reaction to occur, you need to concentrate this form of the metal. This is needed for both weapons grade and power reactor uranium but weapons grade uranium needs more concentration aka enrichment. This is not easy. Why does it take so much work? Chemical reactions occur with the outside of the atom--the electron cloud. This is an easy way to separate chemicals--by their different reactivities due to different electron clouds surrounding them. 

All isotopes of uranium have the same cloud of 92 electrons. This means the isotopes have to be separated by mass. The uranium is reacted with fluoride and forms a gas, then is passed through a porous membrane which only lets the smaller 235 isotope through. Alternately, it might be centrifuged. There are a few other less efficient methods of enrichment. This process demands lots of energy. Monitoring the energy use of enrichment facilities is one way to watch to see if a country is working on producing weapons grade U-235. 

What's going on in Iran? After the Iran-Nuclear deal was trashed, they used centrifuge technology to enrich uranium to a concentration of 4.5%. The allowed limit with the Nuclear Deal was 3.67%. However, it takes 90% enrichment to make a bomb because a bomb reaction must go faster with more U-235 atoms close to each other. Getting to this level is a huge challenge needing a high tech centrifuge. Yes, Iran can get there if the nuclear deal remains sour for years and apparently, it will.

Right now, the world has a surplus of enriched uranium because of the many enrichment plants world wide. This is why tech billionaires want to use nuclear-powered AI. It will be fairly cheap. What country has a surplus of weapons grade uranium? The United States. We are sitting on a “gold mine” so to speak. Germany, the Netherlands, and Japan also have plenty of the stuff.

Scientists worked hard to create the bomb. Some did it unknowingly and others suffered remorse at how it was used. Scientists approved the Nuclear Deal, they supported it, and scientific collaboration is suffering at its end.  The end of the nuclear deal helped Trump achieve victory by gaining support from Arab-Americans and from his overseas pals, who are willing to make others suffer to achieve power.

I suppose that’s nothing new but disappointing for idealists everywhere. People are terrible—they will draw out a war to get their way. Fortunately for me personally, I’ve been a scientist for so long, I no longer score in the idealist category on personality tests. That influence came from my educator parents. I’m one of those pattern seekers. I play the long game.(click for vacation photos).

You know who also plays the long game, Christian Nationalists. They now have the president who has promised to bring the apocalypse. Yes, he did. And some of them are here for it, as this flag in my neighborhood shows. It says: The final chapter God Wins.

Here’s a view of a similar one.

It might seem harmless but look up Christian Nationalism. They are planning on seeing the Final Chapter, as in the final chapter of Revelations, which ends in destruction and god and angels coming down. The Apocalypse. You can read about these folks cheering on the apocalypse here. The Taliban joins this lady with joy about a Trump victory, even going as far as saying that it’s great to see a woman rejected. And by the way, they hate Jimmy Carter.

I saw apocalypse flag flying homeowner today as we both walked our dogs. We look similar when out walking. Our paths didn’t quite cross or I would have asked her to explain more about the flag.

Do I really think the apocalypse is at hand? No. It would ruin the world economy and that’s the last thing the autocrats want. But according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, it’s 90 seconds to doomsday. Better stock up on necessities, maybe a water purifier, and get your vaccines while you can! And personally, I’m going to cut back on social media because it’s full of inaccuracies and products I don’t/won’t need.