The head of Iran’s nuclear energy agency announced Saturday that the country had launched a “serious” nuclear fusion research program, according to state-run Press TV.
Ali-Akbar Salehi, the chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said as many as 50 scientists were participating in the research to break into alternative energy, Press TV said.
The process of nuclear fusion consists of forcing hydrogen nuclei to collide at high speed and fuse together, which releases energy, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) website.
The goal is to eventually develop fusion plants to generate electricity, the IAEA said, but research worldwide is still in the early stages. The agency called nuclear fusion a “long term, sustainable, economic and safe energy source.”
Salehi acknowledged the project will take time.
“It takes 20 to 30 years before this process can be commercialized but we have to use all the capacity in the country to provide the necessary speed for fusion research,” Salehi said, according to Press TV.
Iran is under fire for other aspects of its nuclear program, which Tehran claims is for peaceful purposes. However, the United States and other Western nations fear Iran is attempting to develop a nuclear weapon.
The United Nations has issued four rounds of sanctions against the country for not being more transparent about the goals and status of its nuclear program.
Earlier this month, President Barack Obama signed into law new U.S. sanctions against Tehran that he called another step in demonstrating that “the United States and the international community are determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
(Source: CNN)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
2 Responses
This announcement is cover for what Iran truly wants to do.
I don’t think that fusion as a weapon takes that much research. Nor do I think that Iran has any reason to pursue that. In order to trigger a hydrogen bomb you first need the heat generated by an atomic bomb. Although the hydrogen bomb gives you alot more energy, I don’t really see the point in investing time and money on something which will decimate just the same only with a bigger punch.
On the other hand, no one developed yet a safe way to harness fusion energy for civilian usage. If they succeed, it’ll be a great favor to the world. That is why they are announcing it, and that is why no one is making a big deal about it.
The thing that irks me about this article is, why do they have to quote an organization for a simple definition? They could have just as well quoted Webster’s Dictionary.