15. Iranian Nuclear Fusion Program

Iranian Ali Akbar Salehi, of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said Saturday (July 24, 2010) that Iran is stepping up its research on nuclear fusion in a bid to produce alternative sources of energy. Salehi said Tehran plans to build an experimental nuclear fusion reactor. He said that Iran had hired 50 scientists to work on the project, and that $8 million had been allocated for what he called "serious" research. It is puzzling why Lalehi chose this moment to make his announcement when world powers are vigorously pressuring Tehran to suspend its controversial nuclear activities.

Salehi, who has a doctorate from MIT, claimed that Iran's project would require intense effort, but could provide Tehran with large dividends in diversifying its sources of civilian energy. He says that nuclear fusion is a new technology, and that it needs intense effort to develop. He adds that it will take 20 to 30 years to commercialize nuclear fusion, but that Iran will try to use its resources to achieve that goal sooner. The vision, however, is chimereal. Asghar Sediqzadeh, who was appointed to run Iran's new fusion research center, told Iranian television that it would take two years to conclude initial studies, followed by another 10 years to design and build a fusion reactor

A fusion reactor that is economically feasible is much like the images one sees when viewing a 3-D movie. The temptation to reach out and touch the butterfly or fish floating by is overwhelming, but always just out of reach. For a fusion reactor to do anything to contribute to an alternative method of producing energy it must pass through four stages:

1. Scientific feasibility


2. Engineering feasibility


3. Economic feasibility


4. Commercial feasibility.

No research center anywhere in the world has reached stage 2. Stage two requires that more energy be produced by the reactor than goes into the machine.

Scientific feasibility has been demonstrated in at least three ways. Two groups are leading in the research to produce a fusion reactor. One is centered at the University of Rochester, which uses laser technology, and the other is Los Alamos using another method of compressing the fuel. In 2006, global powers agreed to spend more than $12 billion to build an experimental fusion reactor in the south of France. That accord was signed by the United States, the European Union, China, India, Russia, South Korea and Japan.These groups have produced bursts of energy from fusion reactions, but the output energy is far from the input energy (including the paraphernalia required to make up the reactor).

Achieving a fusion reaction requires highly energized matter (usually a form of hydrogen or perhaps lithium) to be confined in a density that allows for the nuclear force of repulsion to be overcome and the very hot nuclei in the mix combine forming a heavier atom and at the same time releasing energy. This is an enormously difficult process, demanding hundreds of specialities and huge capital investments.

The announcement from Iran brings a chill to the rest of the world since fusion is also the process that produces the thermonuclear explosions of hydrogen bombs. In theory, there is no limit on the yield of a thermonuclear weapon. However, achieving the reaction in a bomb is also extremely difficult.

The Chinese, in the mid-1960s, revealed their own fusion program, oriented to nuclear weapons. Their first step was to test a boosted fission weapon. A boosted weapon used the heat and compression achieved to set off a fission bomb to achieve the temperature and confinement needed to begin fusion. Such weapons are more powerful than ordinary atomic bombs, which rely on fission reactions. Clearly such weapons are feasible. Thus the cold chill of the Iranian announcement.

It wouldn’t’ be a bad thing if the Iranians had this wonderful technological edge over the rest of the world, and they were about to produce a nuclear reactor that does fusion in a commercially viable fashion. No one else has come close so far. bless them," said Ottolenghi. Maybe the Iranians are up to just playful banter. However, if one looks at what the reality of a military program is, if you want to have thermonuclear weapons, you need to master the technology for fusion. And while fusion is not commercially viable for civilian purposes, fusion allows you to build infinitely more powerful nuclear weapons."

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran's controversial nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz has now produced close to 2.5 tons of low-grade, enriched uranium. The Iranian government claims it now has 17 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium. Experts say that such a quantity could be used to build two nuclear (fission-based) warheads.