|
Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant
The Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant, officially the Shahid Ali Mohammadi Nuclear Facility (), is an Iranian underground uranium enrichment facility located north of the Iranian city of Qom, at a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base. The site is under the control of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). It is the second Iranian uranium enrichment facility, the other being the Natanz Nuclear Facility. On 13 June 2025 the facility was attacked by the Israeli Air Force and on 22 June the United States military struck it, with UN nuclear chief claiming damage was likely "very significant" but could not be verified. History Construction on the facility started in 2006, but the existence of the enrichment plant was only disclosed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by Iran on 21 September 2009, after the site became known to Western intelligence services. Western officials strongly condemned Iran for not disclosing the site earlier; U.S. president Bara ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Strikes On Iranian Nuclear Sites
On June22, 2025, the United States Air Force and Navy attacked three nuclear facilities in Iran as part of the Iran–Israel war, under the code name Operation Midnight Hammer. The Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant, the Natanz Nuclear Facility, and the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center were targeted with fourteen Guided Bomb Unit Massive Ordnance Penetrator ( GBU-57A/B MOP) "bunker buster" bombs carried by Northrop B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, and with Tomahawk (missile family), Tomahawk missiles fired from a submarine. The attack was the United States's only offensive action in the Iran–Israel war, which began on June 13 with surprise Israeli strikes and ended with the Iran–Israel war#Announcement of ceasefire, ceasefire on June 24, 2025. U.S. president Donald Trump said the strikes "completely and totally obliterated" Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities; a final bomb damage assessment of the strikes is still ongoing. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iranian Majles
The Islamic Consultative Assembly (), also called the Iranian Parliament, the Iranian Majles (Arabicised spelling Majlis) or ICA, is the unicameral national legislative body of Iran. The parliament currently consists of 290 representatives, an increase from the previous 270 seats since the 18 February 2000 election. History Islamic Republic of Iran Following the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Senate of Iran was abolished and effectively succeeded by the Guardian Council, maintaining the bicameral structure of the Iranian legislature. In the 1989 constitutional revision, the ''National Consultative Assembly'' was renamed the ''Islamic Consultative Assembly''. Since the Iranian Revolution, the Parliament of Iran has been led by six chairmen. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani served as the inaugural chairman from 1980 to 1989. Subsequently, Mehdi Karroubi held the position in two separate terms (1989–1992 and 2000–2004), followed by Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri (1992–2000), Gholam-Ali Ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Low Enriched Uranium
Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (238U with 99.2732–99.2752% natural abundance), uranium-235 (235U, 0.7198–0.7210%), and uranium-234 (234U, 0.0049–0.0059%). 235U is the only nuclide existing in nature (in any appreciable amount) that is fissile with thermal neutrons. Enriched uranium is a critical component for both civil nuclear power generation and military nuclear weapons. Low-enriched uranium (20% 235U, typically >85%) is used for the cores of many nuclear weapons, as well as compact reactors for naval propulsion and research, as well as breeder reactors. There are about 2,000 tonnes of highly enriched uranium in the world. Enrichment methods were first developed on a large scale by the Manhattan Project. Its gaseous diffusion method was used in the 1940s a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gas Centrifuge
A gas centrifuge is a device that performs isotope separation of gases. A centrifuge relies on the principles of centrifugal force accelerating molecules so that particles of different masses are physically separated in a gradient along the radius of a rotating container. A prominent use of gas centrifuges is for the separation of uranium-235 (235U) from uranium-238 (238U). The gas centrifuge was developed to replace the gaseous diffusion method of 235U extraction. High degrees of separation of these isotopes relies on using many individual centrifuges arranged in series that achieve successively higher concentrations. This process yields higher concentrations of 235U while using significantly less energy compared to the gaseous diffusion process. History Suggested in 1919, the centrifugal process was first successfully performed in 1934. American scientist Jesse Beams and his team at the University of Virginia developed the process by separating two isotopes of chlorine, chlori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
U-235
Uranium-235 ( or U-235) is an isotope of uranium making up about 0.72% of natural uranium. Unlike the predominant isotope uranium-238, it is fissile, i.e., it can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. It is the only fissile isotope that exists in nature as a primordial nuclide. Uranium-235 has a half-life of 703.8 million years. It was discovered in 1935 by Arthur Jeffrey Dempster. Its fission cross section for slow thermal neutrons is about barns. For fast neutrons it is on the order of 1 barn. Most neutron absorptions induce fission, though a minority (about 15%) result in the formation of uranium-236. Fission properties The fission of one atom of uranium-235 releases () inside the reactor. That corresponds to 19.54 TJ/ mol, or 83.14 TJ/kg. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uranium Hexafluoride
Uranium hexafluoride, sometimes called hex, is the inorganic compound with the formula . Uranium hexafluoride is a volatile, white solid that is used in enriching uranium for nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Preparation Uranium dioxide is converted with hydrofluoric acid (HF) to uranium tetrafluoride: : The resulting is subsequently oxidized with fluorine to give the hexafluoride: : In samples contaminated with uranium trioxide, uranyl fluoride, an oxyfluoride compound is produced in the HF step: : which can be fluorinated to produce the same product, uranium hexafluoride. : The fluorination step in both reactions above are highly exothermic. Properties Physical properties At atmospheric pressure, sublimes at 56.5 °C. The solid-state structure was determined by neutron diffraction at 77 K and 293 K.J. C. Taylor, P. W. Wilson, J. W. Kelly: „The structures of fluorides. I. Deviations from ideal symmetry in the structure of crystalline UF6: a neutron diffract ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abbas Araghchi
Sayyid Abbas Araghchi (, ; also spelled Araqchi, born 5 December 1962) is an Iranian diplomat and politician, who is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran since August 2024. He previously served as the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Ambassador to Finland and to Japan. Personal life Araghchi was born on December 5, 1962 in Tehran to a prominent Persian carpet merchant family. He has three sisters and three brothers, most of whom are involved in trade and commerce. His grandfather was a carpet trader. His father died when he was 17. His two older brothers hold significant positions, with one being a member of the Board of Directors of the Exporters Union, and the other a member of the Sellers Union. His nephew, Seyed Ahmad Araghchi, served as the Deputy Governor for Foreign Exchange Affairs at the Central Bank of Iran from 2017 to 2018, but was dismissed and arrested by the judiciary following flu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of the longest-running newspapers in the United States, the ''Times'' serves as one of the country's Newspaper of record, newspapers of record. , ''The New York Times'' had 9.13 million total and 8.83 million online subscribers, both by significant margins the List of newspapers in the United States, highest numbers for any newspaper in the United States; the total also included 296,330 print subscribers, making the ''Times'' the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States, following ''The Wall Street Journal'', also based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' is published by the New York Times Company; since 1896, the company has been chaired by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose current chairman and the paper's publ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isfahan
Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city has a population of approximately 2,220,000, making it the third-most populous city in Iran, after Tehran and Mashhad, and the second-largest metropolitan area. Isfahan is located at the intersection of the two principal routes that traverse Iran, north–south and east–west. Isfahan flourished between the 9th and 18th centuries. Under the Safavid Iran, Safavid Empire, Isfahan became the capital of Iran, for the second time in its history, under Abbas the Great. It is known for its Persian architecture, Persian–Islamic architecture, Muslim architecture, grand boulevards, covered bridges, palaces, tiled mosques, and minarets. Isfahan also has many historical buildings, monuments, paintings, and artifacts. The fame of Isfahan led to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
B-2 Bomber
The Northrop B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American Heavy bomber, heavy strategic bomber, featuring low-observable stealth aircraft, stealth technology designed to penetrator (aircraft), penetrate dense anti-aircraft warfare, anti-aircraft defenses. A Subsonic aircraft, subsonic flying wing with a crew of two, the plane was designed by Northrop Corporation, Northrop (later Northrop Grumman) as the prime contractor, with Boeing, Hughes Aircraft Company, Hughes, and Vought as principal subcontractors, and was produced from 1988 to 2000. The bomber can drop conventional weapon, conventional and thermonuclear weapons, such as up to eighty Mark 82 bomb, Mk 82 Joint Direct Attack Munition, JDAM Global Positioning System, GPS-guided bombs, or sixteen B83 nuclear bombs. The B-2 is the only acknowledged in-service aircraft that can carry large air-to-surface missile, air-to-surface Standoff missile, standoff weapons in a stealth configuration. Development began ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021. Born into a wealthy family in the New York City borough of Queens, Trump graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in economics. He became the president of his family's real estate business in 1971, renamed it the Trump Organization, and began acquiring and building skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. He launched side ventures, many licensing the Trump name, and filed for six business bankruptcies in the 1990s and 2000s. From 2004 to 2015, he hosted the reality television show ''The Apprentice (American TV series), The Apprentice'', bolstering his fame as a billionaire. Presenting himself as a political outsider, Trump won the 2016 United States presidential e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GBU-57A/B MOP
The GBU-57 series MOP (Massive Ordnance Penetrator) is a class, precision-guided munition "bunker buster" bomb developed by Boeing for the United States Air Force (USAF). Composed of a BLU-127 bomb body and an integrated GPS/INS guidance package, there are seven GBU-57 variants. Due to its size and weight, the GBU-57 MOP can only be carried by the Northrop B-2 Spirit strategic bomber, although initial tests were conducted with the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. The first combat use of the GBU-57 MOP came on 22 June 2025, when seven Northrop B-2 Spirit stealth bombers dropped a total of fourteen GBU-57 bombs on Iran's Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant and Natanz Nuclear Facility. The bomb is much larger than earlier USAF bunker busters such as the GBU-28 and GBU-37. Development and production Bunker-busting bombs were used in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but failed to penetrate deeply or achieve the desired destruction. This renewed interest in a larger bunker buster, so the Defe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
