There is a lot of confusion about uranium enrichment in Iran.

In natural uranium, only 7 atoms out of 1000 are chain-reacting uranium-235. The other 993 atoms are, for the most part, uranium-238 atoms – not a chain-reacting material.

Uranium enrichment refers to any technology that increases the percentage of the chain-reacting U-235 beyond the 0.7% level (i.e. natural uranium). But there is a good deal of misinformation and/or misunderstanding about enriched uranium in the media recently.

Nuclear Explosions

It is often reported that 90% uranium enrichment is “needed” to have a nuclear weapon. This is not true. The Hiroshima bombs had only 80% enrichment. Iran has a good deal of 60% enriched uranium, and you can make a bomb from 60% enriched uranium — it would be bulkier than a bomb with 90% enrichment and therefore harder to deliver, but not so very much harder.

Also, the mechanism needed for making a uranium bomb is very much easier than what is needed for a plutonium bomb. It can be done with a lot less effort and taking very little time. It’s called a “gun-type” atomic bomb rather than an “implosion-type” atomic bomb.

Gordon Edwards

The gun-type bomb just fires one chunk of uranium into another chunk (the target) so that the two chunks add up to more than a “critical mass”. It is so simple it cannot possibly fail – as a result they never had to test this type of bomb before using it. They dropped it on the city of Hiroshima with no testing. There is a need for a precision timed “neutron source” but that is very old technology that has been well known for ages.

The implosion-type bomb is much more sophisticated, requiring a perfectly spherical

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The Farzana Foundation
Who Farzana Niemann, Executive Director – The Farzana Foundation, Inc.
What Non-Profit Organization that Provides Funding for the Construction of Fresh Water Wells
Where Small Villages Surrounding Herat City, Afghanistan
When Since the Recent US Withdrawal from Afghanistan
Why
The events surrounding the US withdrawal from Afghanistan have been heartbreaking, and the unimaginable suffering experienced by the Afghani people as result of this has motivated us to help in any way we can. While much of the subsequent activity in the area has involved assisting people flee the country, we believe there is a significant need to provide assistance to the millions of those who have been forced to remain. Our mission is to provide funding for the construction of fresh water wells within the many small villages located throughout the country that do not enjoy this basic necessity of everyday life. Those of us who live in the more developed nations take fresh running water for granted. However, as hard as it may be to believe, many of the smaller villages in Afghanistan simply do not have ready access to fresh running water for normal everyday drinking and sanitary purposes.
Since 2017, Farzana’s family has provided funding for more than thirty-five of these fresh water wells in the area surrounding her birth city of Herat, located in the Northwestern part of the country near their border with Iran, where she spent the first nine years of her life. This has enabled families living in this area to enjoy this basic necessity more readily. While each of these wells provides water to literally hundreds of families, there is a great need to construct many more of them to satisfy the substantially greater requirements of these people. Those that do not have a fresh water well in their village must frequently travel great distances by foot and physically carry back very heavy containers of water for their families. An undertaking of this nature can cover distances of several miles and take many hours during the day, a great deal of time and effort that could otherwise be used for more productive endeavors in the further development of their society. As a mother of three, Farzana understands the difficulties and worry over children that a parent experiences under normal conditions, notwithstanding an untenable environment that may exist without basic necessities such as water.

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I’m following up my email last week, after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared over 25 million Iranians have contracted COVID, to bring your attention to a U.S. based organization aiding relief efforts both here and in Iran. I’m hoping you’ll take interest in this story as a standalone focus, orin tapping into the organization’s leadership for commentary on this or other related affairs.

Moms Against Poverty (MAP) is a global non-profit organization, founded in 2008 in San Francisco as a volunteer-based nonprofit organization to nurture and educate underprivileged children. In 2020, MAP is working diligently to aid children and the poor impacted by COVID-19. They are active in helping U.S. families,having provided over 50,000 meals in 2020 alone for families from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. but are also currently one of the only U.S. based charities able to provide aid to Iran.

In regards to Iranian humanitarian efforts, the decades-long political stalemate, and severe sanctions / banking restrictions imposed by the U.S., inhibit availability of medical equipment to stem the coronavirus’ effects. Support is desperately needed for the most vulnerable of the populace.

This year alone, MAP has supported over 200,000 children and their families in Iran by providing 27 ventilators, 7 ECGs, 6 radiography machines, 3 oxygen machines, 150 oxygen tanks and tens of thousands of various forms of critical PPEs, including isolation clothing, surgical gowns, masks,and face shields. Beyond hospital support, MAP also donated PPEs, disinfectants and surface cleaners to public orphanages and homeless shelters in Iran.

While this is an accomplishment that tackles the first phase of the pandemic, to alleviate the ever-increasing economic impact of COVID-19, MAP has transitioned their effort to hunger relief in Iran. They recently distributed food packets including groceries such as meat, rice and more to 2000 families. Additionally,MAP has launched a bread project where families in Iran receive bread for a month. MAP also have had a disaster relief NGO arm, operating in Iran since 2010. Recently their funds ceiling quota was tripled by OFAC, allowing them to do even more work. More information on the organization’s efforts is in their mid-year report, here.

While there is brinksmanship ongoing between the U.S. and Iran, the suffering of innocents due to COVID is something that should be addressed and helped at all costs.

#iran #covid #nonprofit #fights #sanctions #help #food #medicine #bobak #cyrus #bakhtiari #rouhani #hassan #president #aiding #relief #moms #against #poverty #map #coronavirus #effects #support #families #ppe #ventilators #oxygen #shelters #hospital #humanitarian

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