Thread: Can Iran produce its own nuclear fuel?

csmonitor.com: Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran will make its own higher enriched nuclear fuel, effectively rejecting a UN-backed exchange proposal that would have eased Western fears about Iran's nuclear program. "I declare that by the grace of God, the...

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I don't think God wants Iran or any one else to make enriched nuclear bomb material, but God is not likely to prevent it, and Iran may succeed on their own at great cost. Unfortunately we are providing Iran almost unlimited money due to our oil purchases. We need to develop alternatives faster than seems prudent. Neil

A lot of declarations by various religious leaders are out of synch, if not directly controverting their religious texts.

On the other hand, their enrichment systems are only good enough for power-production, not weapons grade. I think much of the saber rattling about this is political, namely that the US and allies don't want to given them an inche in the area of uranium enrichment.

Originally Posted by neil

I don't think God wants Iran or any one else to make enriched nuclear bomb material, but God is not likely to prevent it, and Iran may succeed on their own at great cost. Unfortunately we are providing Iran almost unlimited money due to our oil purchases. We need to develop alternatives faster than seems prudent. Neil

As of a couple of years ago, Iran was earning $51 billion per year from oil exports, which is something on the order of 5-7% of the economy, and which is less than they spend on domestic energy subsidies - so altogether, the Iranian goverment is losing money on energy. If oil exports dropped to zero (which doesn't seem very likely), they'd still have over 90% of the economy to draw on to fund nuclear projects if they liked. But exports could go up a lot with some projects that are due to open in the next few years.