# So Why Are The Iranians Enriching All That Uranium? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 6, 2015, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390 "2015-07-06T13:35:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/21 "2015-07-06T22:04:39Z")
Don’t let the plasma wave hit your ass on the way out. ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/22 "2015-07-06T22:24:02Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > When confronted with the question of being nuked themselves if they provoked an attack the head leader of Iran said, “We are going to heaven anyway” Really? Got a quote? ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/23 "2015-07-06T22:30:09Z")
100 million deaths around the world in one day, sad & 100 billion dollars in cost at least. Keeping John Kerry busy & out of the country??? Priceless. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/24 "2015-07-06T22:38:25Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > That Iran probably has own-needs petro for about 2,500 years. They can sell 99% of it and still have gas for pennies a gallon. Iran imports a lot of its gasoline, [because it lacks enough refineries.](http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/27/iran-gasoline-idUKL5N0MO26X20140327) > [@](#): > > Iran lacks refining capacity - in part due to a lack of foreign investment - forcing it to import 40 percent of its domestic gasoline demand. The United States has imposed sanctions on foreign companies that help to supply fuel to Iran. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/25 "2015-07-06T22:41:54Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Iran imports a lot of its gasoline, [because it lacks enough refineries.](http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/27/iran-gasoline-idUKL5N0MO26X20140327) If they don’t have refineries to process crude to gasoline a nuclear power plant aint gonna help any. Even if they DID have refineries, it still wouldn’t help. ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/26 "2015-07-06T22:43:25Z")
If they can’t get adequate refineries installed - either by developing their own or paying foreigners for the parts and expertise - why do they think they can tame a nuclear reactor? Nuclear power is probably…10 times harder and more dangerous than an oil refinery? More? Fundamentally, a reactor is a set of very expensive zirconium rods that can potentially produce gigawatts or even terrawatts of heat very suddenly if you have a flaw in the design and let the reaction really get going. You only want them to produce a few gigawatts thermal at most, and to pump that heat away as fast as your produce it. You have highly poisonous materials that can contaminate vast areas of land for generation, measured by the ton. Anything goes wrong, and the leaked waste will make it lethally dangerous to even approach any of the equipment in order to fix it. If a refinery goes bad, you can just put out the fires with hoses and start fixing stuff. The plant itself won’t be lethal to even approach once the fires are out, and protective clothing can stop chemicals from hurting you - protective clothing provides zero protection against gamma rays. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/27 "2015-07-06T23:40:49Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Iran imports a lot of its gasoline, [because it lacks enough refineries.](http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/27/iran-gasoline-idUKL5N0MO26X20140327) Which is neither here nor there in the overall argument. It’s just cheaper and easier to export crude and import refined products, because the world has a whole passel of refining countries ready to work by the VLCC-load. Iran has the wells and the reserves; can’t trump that. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/28 "2015-07-06T23:56:12Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Which is neither here nor there in the overall argument. It’s just cheaper and easier to export crude and import refined products, because the world has a whole passel of refining countries ready to work by the VLCC-load. Iran has the wells and the reserves; can’t trump that. Except when the US imposes sanctions, and makes it difficult to import gasoline. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/29 "2015-07-07T00:03:31Z")
Though nuclear doesn’t really have anything to do with gasoline, as I understand it. Oil-fired power plants and nuclear might be a better comparison, but as it stands now, gasoline is used vehicles mostly, which nuclear isn’t going to help for. Well, except in regards to electric vehicles charged from power plants. Or is it different there? I think nuclear power is a pretty good power source as far as cleanliness goes, but I would also expect some work on nuclear weapons, and I can’t honestly blame any country for wanting them since other countries (often countries they are on very bad terms with) already have them. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/30 "2015-07-07T00:39:29Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > How do you figure 100 million? If they got 10 100 kiloton nukes into key spots in America or Europe, that probably wouldn’t kill more than a million folks per blast, would it? . . . I was just pulling a big number out of the hypothetical latis rectum of eliminative reasoning. But I was thinking of the entirety of the conflict. Iran hits Israel, Israel hits Iran, Iran hits Saudi Arabia, etc. The affair would have some domino effects, but would not spiral all the way up into an all-out exchange among the Big Boys. Many…probably most…of the casualties would be Iranians themselves. And the guys firing at them know exactly how to maximize airburst effects. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/31 "2015-07-07T01:15:31Z")
Does Iran have any domestic uranium supply? If not, where are they buying it? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/32 "2015-07-07T02:43:40Z")
Killing 100 million people here, 100 million people there. . . Pretty soon, you’re talking about some real people. When one person dies, it’s a tragedy. When 100 million people die, it’s a statistic. So everybody says “Well, if they put a nuke down in urban America someplace and 100 million people die . . . No big deal really. They can’t get ALL of us. Life goes on.” (Except for those for whom life doesn’t go on.) And of course, there are always those saintly fortunate people who get incinerated just-not-quite to death, for whom life goes on _very very horribly._ Those don’t seem to get counted in any statistic. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/33 "2015-07-07T03:10:29Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Does Iran have any domestic uranium supply? If not, where are they buying it? Iran has some small uranium mines, but most of their uranium ore comes from a purchase they made from South Africa in 1982. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/34 "2015-07-07T05:30:42Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > . . . And of course, there are always those saintly fortunate people who get incinerated just-not-quite to death, for whom life goes on _very very horribly._ Those don’t seem to get counted in any statistic. Ah, sir, you err. I specifically said “casualties.” That includes the wounded, burned, maimed, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/35 "2015-07-07T05:39:01Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Ah, sir, you err. I specifically said “casualties.” That includes the wounded, burned, maimed, and so on. YOU said. But I was thinking more of the common news articles, op-eds, and other public discussions of war and mass atrocities, which often mention only the number of dead as a measure of the “badness” of the event. In the case of some kinds of really bad events, like dropping nuclear bombs on big cities, the people who get instantly vaporized near ground-zero are the relatively lucky ones. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/36 "2015-07-07T06:58:24Z")
> [@PatriotX](#): > > It seems obviously reasonable that a country would want to sell its petro while using a different source for electricity. > It seems that if Iran could get their electricity from somewhere other than petro then they would be free to sell more of their petro. > > What’s the thing which makes this obvious/naive observation inaccurate? > > What is the mystery behind the idea that Iran would want to sell its petro rather than expend it? Spot on. Iran is diversifying into nuclear energy for [much the same reasons Saudi Arabia is diversifying into solar energy](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/07/saudis-solar-energy/395315/). Iran might perhaps also want at least the _possibility_ of building a bomb at some future date - which makes perfect sense if you consider the neighbourhood they’re in. Certainly it’d would lower the odds of some disastrous foreign invasion. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/37 "2015-07-07T08:42:42Z")
Iran wants the bomb, which is absolutely understandable if you consider the security competition that goes on in the ME. Iran is a Shia power and is ringed by and faces grave challenges from Sunni powers that have no love lost for Iran and its ‘heretical’ Shia population. It is believed that the Saudis, Iran’s most powerful detractors, have their [nukes reserved](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24823846)from the nuclear Walmart operated by fellow-Sunni Pakistan. America and Israel are old enemies of the Iranian state. Given threats of this magnitude, Iran wants to - needs to - invent a stockpile of ‘Shia nukes’ to guarantee its own survival. At least the Iranians are working hard for their survival, and not stealing from or operating a blackmarket all over the world, the way the slimebag Pakistani generals did, with the blessings of Uncle Sam. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/38 "2015-07-07T08:58:06Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > why do they need so many centrifuges? If the object is to enrich to make medical isotopes–why the need for so many? Well…Obviously, they just want to provide health benefits for mankind! Think of all those medical isotopes they will give to hospitals all over the world… It’s such a wonderful,wonderful thing that they are doing, for the benefit of us all. Why would anybody object? ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/39 "2015-07-07T10:59:31Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > It’s such a wonderful,wonderful thing that they are doing, for the benefit of us all. > Why would anybody object? Why indeed? Iranian nuclear power would reduce the country’s dependence on oil, and Iranian nukes would reduce the risk of yet another devastating war. Both things really _would_ be a “benefit of us all.” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390/40 "2015-07-07T13:43:50Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > Though nuclear doesn’t really have anything to do with gasoline, as I understand it. Oil-fired power plants and nuclear might be a better comparison, but as it stands now, gasoline is used vehicles mostly, which nuclear isn’t going to help for. Well, except in regards to electric vehicles charged from power plants. Or is it different there? You need oil to make gasoline. And you need refineries to process petroleum whether you’re using it for gasoline or something else. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-the-iranians-enriching-all-that-uranium/724390.md?page=3)