This is What the the Islamic republic of Iran is Interested in mostly:
Civilian uses
Nuclear power
Further information: Nuclear power and Nuclear reactor technology
Nuclear power is a type of nuclear technology involving the controlled use of nuclear fission to release energy for work including propulsion, heat, and the generation of electricity. Nuclear energy is produced by a controlled nuclear chain reaction which creates heat—and which is used to boil water, produce steam, and drive a steam turbine. The turbine is used to generate electricity and/or to do mechanical work.
Currently nuclear power provides approximately 15.7% of the world's electricity (in 2004) and is used to propel aircraft carriers, icebreakers and submarines (so far economics and fears in some ports have prevented the use of nuclear power in transport ships).[4] All nuclear power plants use fission. Despite years of effort and the occasional hoax (i.e. cold fusion), no man-made fusion reaction has produced more energy than it consumed and been a viable source of electricity.
Medical applications
The medical applications of nuclear technology are divided into diagnostics and radiation treatment.
Imaging - medical and dental x-ray imagers use of Cobalt-60 or other x-ray sources. Technetium-99m is used, attached to organic molecules, as radioactive tracer in the human body, before being excreted by the kidneys. Positron emitting nucleotides are used for high resolution, short time span imaging in applications known as Positron emission tomography.
Radiation therapy is an effective treatment for cancer.
Industrial applications
Oil and Gas Exploration- Nuclear well logging is used to help predict the commercial viability of new or existing wells. The technology involves the use of a neutron or gamma-ray source and a radiation detector which are lowered into boreholes to determine the properties of the surrounding rock such as porosity and lithography.[1]
Road Construction - Nuclear moisture/density gauges are used to determine the density of soils, asphalt, and concrete. Typically a Cesium-137 source is used.
Commercial applications
An ionization smoke detector includes a tiny mass of radioactive americium-241, which is a source of alpha radiation. Tritium is used with phosphor in rifle sights to increase nighttime firing accuracy. Luminescent exit signs use the same technology.[5]
Food processing and agriculture
The Radura logo, used to show a food has been treated with ionizing radiation.
Food irradiation[6] is the process of exposing food to ionizing radiation in order to destroy microorganisms, bacteria, viruses, or insects that might be present in the food. The radiation sources used include radioisotope gamma ray sources, X-ray generators and electron accelerators. Further applications include sprout inhibition, delay of ripening, increase of juice yield, and improvement of re-hydration. Irradiation is a more general term of deliberate exposure of materials to radiation to achieve a technical goal (in this context 'ionizing radiation' is implied). As such it is also used on non-food items, such as medical hardware, plastics, tubes for gas-pipelines, hoses for floor-heating, shrink-foils for food packaging, automobile parts, wires and cables (isolation), tires, and even gemstones. Compared to the amount of food irradiated, the volume of those every-day applications is huge but not noticed by the consumer.
The genuine effect of processing food by ionizing radiation relates to damages to the DNA, the basic genetic information for life. Microorganisms can no longer proliferate and continue their malignant or pathogen activities. Spoilage causing micro-organisms cannot continue their activities. Insects do not survive or become incapable of procreation. Plants cannot continue the natural ripening or aging process. All these effects are beneficial to the consumer and the food industry, likewise.[6]
The amount of energy imparted for effective food irradiation is low compared to cooking the same; even at a typical dose of 10 kGy most food, which is (with regard to warming) physically equivalent to water, would warm by only about 2.5 °C (4.5 °F).
The specialty of processing food by ionizing radiation is the fact, that the energy density per atomic transition is very high, it can cleave molecules and induce ionization (hence the name) which cannot be achieved by mere heating. This is the reason for new beneficial effects, however at the same time, for new concerns. The treatment of solid food by ionizing radiation can provide an effect similar to heat pasteurization of liquids, such as milk. However, the use of the term, cold pasteurization, to describe irradiated foods is controversial, because pasteurization and irradiation are fundamentally different processes, although the intended end results can in some cases be similar.
Food irradiation is currently permitted by over 40 countries and volumes are estimated to exceed 500,000 metric tons (490,000 long tons; 550,000 short tons) annually world wide.[7][8][9]
Food irradiation is essentially a non-nuclear technology; it relies on the use of ionizing radiation which may be generated by accelerators for electrons and conversion into bremsstrahlung, but which may use also gamma-rays from nuclear decay. There is a worldwide industry for processing by ionizing radiation, the majority by number and by processing power using accelerators. Food irradiation is only a niche application compared to medical supplies, plastic materials, raw materials, gemstones, cables and wires, etc.
So nuclear weapons are a by-product of the nuclear energy, and not everyone is interested in them; Brasil, Argentina, Germany, Sweden and Iran do not seem to be interested in NW.
Nuclear technology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia