Iran Uranium Centrifuges

[PeeD]

On the nuclear technology day, Iran officially disclosed the history and structure of its gas centrifuge program.

I will lay out the extracted details here:

IR1: First generation production URENCO machine (3-4 generation Zippe design), via Pakistans P1. Relative small diameter aluminium rotor but mechanically advanced 4-Rotor design.

IR2: Larger diameter 2-rotor design based on Urenco second generation design, via Pakistans P2. Unlike Pakistan, Iran could not import the maraging steel rotors and bellows. This lead to discontinuing this path.

IR3: Two stage maraging steel rotor of the IR2 was replaced with a increased length single rotor carbon fiber rotor.

IR2M: After mastering IR3 single rotor design, a 2-rotor variant was mastered via functioning carbon fiber bellows. Resulting in a design that was basically a 2nd gen. Urenco centrifuge (P2) but with faster spinning carbon fiber rotos.

IR4: Probably a 2-rotor variant of the IR3, run in parallel to the IR2M program. Despite increased rotor length compared to the IR2M, producebility and lower speed, gave it no advantage over the IR2M.

IR5: Ambitious 3-4 rotor design. The first after the IR1 (which was extensively studied for two decades to master the difficulties of such designes). Difficulties with mastering producibility of such a advanced design, lead to a generation of larger diameter machines.

IR6S: Larger diameter design. To master the larger diameter this design is single rotor (S for short). Its performance is not better than the mature IR2M.

IR6: 2-rotor variant of the IR6S. It has the same enrichment capability as the complex IR5 but as the IR2M was well mastered and sufficiently mature. It got twice as powerful as the IR2M.

IR7: 3-4 rotor variant of the IR6. After the IR1 and IR5, this became the 3rd 3-rotor design. Its early success lead to a direct jump to a next generation design, the IR8.

IR8: After the success with the IR7 prototype, this was the first machine that skipped single and twin rotor steps and directly went for a 3-4 rotor design (indicating that problems regarding 3-4 rotor machines have been understood and mastered).
In terms of diameter, this is the 4th generation of Iranian machines and mastering the larger diameter is the main hurdle of the IR8.

The IR8 will be the final machine for the industrial scale work, performing at ~24-times the level of the "industrial scale" IR1.
This is the machine that will give Iran a latent nuclear capability, as a small number of such powerful machines in a nuclear-hardened enrichment facility will be able to enrich HEU in days from LEU.
The key issue now is mastering a production variant of the IR8 that has a sufficiently long life-time. Since this mastering of producibility is so difficult, it can be expected to be ready in 2-5 years, at the end of the Barjam/JCPOA restrictions.

As for now, the production ready machines in Iran are:

IR1 (2000 production but perfected only in 2010-2015)
IR2M (mastered 2010-2015)
IR6 (mastered 2015-2020)

Current state of the art URENCO machines operate ~4-times better than the IR8. But for a latent HEU enrichment capability IR8 is sufficient. At nuclear-strike resistent Fordow, a 2000 machine cascade of IR8 could produce several warheads worth of HEU withing a few days after the order is given.
I hope to see a high-grade carbon fiber mass production line becoming operational for the IR8 to enable serial production in the 2020-2025 time frame.

 

[yavar]

IR8-2

IR8-1

according to Netanyahu: Iran has IR-16 AND IR-22 generation centrifuge which was given in one of his famous speech 2010

 

[Cygnus Black]

I'm in favor of Iran achieving nuclear capability but Iran should not use it to bully its Muslim neighbors.

 

[SubWater]

Iran need centrifuge with power of at least 50 SWU to reach international level. abd that is just one or two step more. Under Barjam Iran has right only to study and do computer simulations for more advance centrifuge than IR8.

 

[PeeD]

Iran need centrifuge with power of at least 50 SWU to reach international level. abd that is just one or two step more. Under Barjam Iran has right only to study and do computer simulations for more advance centrifuge than IR8.

If commercial operation is not the goal then there is no need to reach those 50 SWU.
The IR8 is almost at 90's level URENCO TC12. A very reliable machine still in operation.
Better machines get larger and need better materials.
The IR8 would probably fit in a underground hall or tunnel with 3-3,5m high.
URENCO basically doubled the high of the TC12 to get the current top of the line TC21. Such a approach would be ok for a purely civilian program with no latent weapon capability.
Hence mastering a reliable IR-8 as the main machine is a good goal and sufficient for Irans needs. As said the 30-40 SWU TC12 is still working for URENCO due to its reliability and cost effectiveness.

Hence the performance is sufficient for the post-JCPOA era. The team should just concentrate on getting it reliable and produceable in the next 2-5 years.
Theoretical and prototype work on larger machines is certainly done, no question.

 

[aryobarzan]

On the nuclear technology day, Iran officially disclosed the history and structure of its gas centrifuge program.

I will lay out the extracted details here:

IR1: First generation production URENCO machine (3-4 generation Zippe design), via Pakistans P1. Relative small diameter aluminium rotor but mechanically advanced 4-Rotor design.

IR2: Larger diameter 2-rotor design based on Urenco second generation design, via Pakistans P2. Unlike Pakistan, Iran could not import the maraging steel rotors and bellows. This lead to discontinuing this path.

IR3: Two stage maraging steel rotor of the IR2 was replaced with a increased length single rotor carbon fiber rotor.

IR2M: After mastering IR3 single rotor design, a 2-rotor variant was mastered via functioning carbon fiber bellows. Resulting in a design that was basically a 2nd gen. Urenco centrifuge (P2) but with faster spinning carbon fiber rotos.

IR4: Probably a 2-rotor variant of the IR3, run in parallel to the IR2M program. Despite increased rotor length compared to the IR2M, producebility and lower speed, gave it no advantage over the IR2M.

IR5: Ambitious 3-4 rotor design. The first after the IR1 (which was extensively studied for two decades to master the difficulties of such designes). Difficulties with mastering producibility of such a advanced design, lead to a generation of larger diameter machines.

IR6S: Larger diameter design. To master the larger diameter this design is single rotor (S for short). Its performance is not better than the mature IR2M.

IR6: 2-rotor variant of the IR6S. It has the same enrichment capability as the complex IR5 but as the IR2M was well mastered and sufficiently mature. It got twice as powerful as the IR2M.

IR7: 3-4 rotor variant of the IR6. After the IR1 and IR5, this became the 3rd 3-rotor design. Its early success lead to a direct jump to a next generation design, the IR8.

IR8: After the success with the IR7 prototype, this was the first machine that skipped single and twin rotor steps and directly went for a 3-4 rotor design (indicating that problems regarding 3-4 rotor machines have been understood and mastered).
In terms of diameter, this is the 4th generation of Iranian machines and mastering the larger diameter is the main hurdle of the IR8.

The IR8 will be the final machine for the industrial scale work, performing at ~24-times the level of the "industrial scale" IR1.
This is the machine that will give Iran a latent nuclear capability, as a small number of such powerful machines in a nuclear-hardened enrichment facility will be able to enrich HEU in days from LEU.
The key issue now is mastering a production variant of the IR8 that has a sufficiently long life-time. Since this mastering of producibility is so difficult, it can be expected to be ready in 2-5 years, at the end of the Barjam/JCPOA restrictions.

As for now, the production ready machines in Iran are:

IR1 (2000 production but perfected only in 2010-2015)
IR2M (mastered 2010-2015)
IR6 (mastered 2015-2020)

Current state of the art URENCO machines operate ~4-times better than the IR8. But for a latent HEU enrichment capability IR8 is sufficient. At nuclear-strike resistent Fordow, a 2000 machine cascade of IR8 could produce several warheads worth of HEU withing a few days after the order is given.
I hope to see a high-grade carbon fiber mass production line becoming operational for the IR8 to enable serial production in the 2020-2025 time frame.

Excellent. Thank you for this info. It makes your write up about iran being a latent nuclear power more clear.

 

[SubWater]

If commercial operation is not the goal then there is no need to reach those 50 SWU.
The IR8 is almost at 90's level URENCO TC12. A very reliable machine still in operation.
Better machines get larger and need better materials.
The IR8 would probably fit in a underground hall or tunnel with 3-3,5m high.
URENCO basically doubled the high of the TC12 to get the current top of the line TC21. Such a approach would be ok for a purely civilian program with no latent weapon capability.
Hence mastering a reliable IR-8 as the main machine is a good goal and sufficient for Irans needs. As said the 30-40 SWU TC12 is still working for URENCO due to its reliability and cost effectiveness.

Hence the performance is sufficient for the post-JCPOA era. The team should just concentrate on getting it reliable and produceable in the next 2-5 years.
Theoretical and prototype work on larger machines is certainly done, no question.

see below Video at 11:00
clearly Salehi said IR-8 is not in the International level, but I am agree that IR-8 is good centrifuge for Iran.
He said Europian use centrifuge with 80 SWU now.

 

[Kastor]

On the nuclear technology day, Iran officially disclosed the history and structure of its gas centrifuge program.


Current state of the art URENCO machines operate ~4-times better than the IR8. But for a latent HEU enrichment capability IR8 is sufficient. At nuclear-strike resistent Fordow, a 2000 machine cascade of IR8 could produce several warheads worth of HEU withing a few days after the order is given.
I hope to see a high-grade carbon fiber mass production line becoming operational for the IR8 to enable serial production in the 2020-2025 time frame.

Yes!!! After what we've seen from the Americans and the Europeans, we now know words and promises are not worth the paper they are printed on.....we must move forward with nuke weaponry designs and we must move forward at great speed because these bunch only respect force..so let's not disappoint them.

 

[WinterNights]

So the Americans have a machine with 300swu. Does anyone have a picture of these other machines? From my understanding they're much taller than the likes of IR-8.

Edit:

Found them, as you can see, these are much taller than ours:

Obviously, such centrifuge are not useful for a covert nuclear program that needs to have facilities that compact and deep.

see below Video at 11:00
clearly Salehi said IR-8 is not in the International level, but I am agree that IR-8 is good centrifuge for Iran.
He said Europian use centrifuge with 80 SWU now.

Seems Salehi was saying we can design 50 swu machines and later he wanted to say more about our next projects but that piece of crap interviewer interrupted.

 

[Sineva]

At this point in the equation it really makes little sense to go beyond the ir8,after all iran currently only has one commercial power reactor that it needs an emergency enrichment and fuel production capacity for,and the ir8 should provide a more than decent bomb fuel production capability as well.The ir8 should be well placed to meet irans fissile production needs for the next 2 decades at least.

 

[Sineva]

So the Americans have a machine with 300swu. Does anyone have a picture of these other machines? From my understanding they're much taller than the likes of IR-8.

Edit:

Found them, as you can see, these are much taller than ours:

View attachment 553299

Obviously, such centrifuge are not useful for a covert nuclear program that needs to have facilities that compact and deep.



Seems Salehi was saying we can design 50 swu machines and later he wanted to say more about our next projects but that piece of crap interviewer interrupted.

Likely the next projects would be things like laser enrichment,iran had an avlis program operating before it was shut down in 2003,or possibly a program for the reprocessing of spent fuel/nuclear waste.

 

[DoubleYouSee]

Is there

I'm in favor of Iran achieving nuclear capability but Iran should not use it to bully its Muslim neighbor

I'm in favor of Iran achieving nuclear capability but Iran should not use it to bully its Muslim neighbors.

could you prove your word that Iran bullies it's neighbours?!

 

[TheImmortal]

Saleh is a Western agent and known liar and his lies have been exposed.

Iran has a while to go before even IR-6 is ready for mass production.



“In a nutshell, advanced centrifuges like the IR-8 are potentially 16 times more powerful to enrich uranium compared to the simple IR-1 centrifuges that Tehran possessed prior to the 2015 deal.

“The IR-8 has been a failure,” Albright said. “The centrifuge uses carbon fiber bellows, which involve carbon fiber tubes connected by a movable part, the bellows. They go into the shape of a banana when they hit a certain speed. You need to make them bendable. The bellow must be flexible, but they are made of carbon fiber so there are lots of problems with them cracking,” he said


......

“Even with Iran’s less advanced IR-1s, inspectors have found that 20%-30% of them regularly fail. This may be why it took so long for Tehran to get suspicious about its centrifuges failing upon being infected with the Stuxnet computer virus in 2009-2010.”

.....

“He said that the centrifuges were easily identifiable as IR-6’s – due to their single rotor tube and the absence of a bellow – all of which have failed to date.”

.....

“He said that Iran has had success with the IR-2m centrifuge, which is three to four times more powerful than the IR-1 model, and that the Islamic republic regularly discusses its future aspirations to build tens of thousands of centrifuges.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.jpos...rifuges-failing-top-expert-reveals-579215/amp

 

[Shams313]

new achievements.....
Active batch of IR6.....They also showed capacity difference of IR1 to IR8.
IR7 really do exists...

 

[SubWater]

Saleh is a Western agent and known liar and his lies have been exposed.

Iran has a while to go before even IR-6 is ready for mass production.



“In a nutshell, advanced centrifuges like the IR-8 are potentially 16 times more powerful to enrich uranium compared to the simple IR-1 centrifuges that Tehran possessed prior to the 2015 deal.

“The IR-8 has been a failure,” Albright said. “The centrifuge uses carbon fiber bellows, which involve carbon fiber tubes connected by a movable part, the bellows. They go into the shape of a banana when they hit a certain speed. You need to make them bendable. The bellow must be flexible, but they are made of carbon fiber so there are lots of problems with them cracking,” he said


......

“Even with Iran’s less advanced IR-1s, inspectors have found that 20%-30% of them regularly fail. This may be why it took so long for Tehran to get suspicious about its centrifuges failing upon being infected with the Stuxnet computer virus in 2009-2010.”

.....

“He said that the centrifuges were easily identifiable as IR-6’s – due to their single rotor tube and the absence of a bellow – all of which have failed to date.”

.....

“He said that Iran has had success with the IR-2m centrifuge, which is three to four times more powerful than the IR-1 model, and that the Islamic republic regularly discusses its future aspirations to build tens of thousands of centrifuges.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.jpos...rifuges-failing-top-expert-reveals-579215/amp

Dude, exactly Salehi said we have around 7 years till we can mass produce IR-8.
he said non of the current IR-6 and IR-8 are final products. but we are progressing.