Fordow is reactor Iran’s main nuclear nuclear enrichment, is officially called “Shahid Ali Muhammadi’s facility”, and it is located under a depth of up to 90 to 100 meters near the city of Qom, southwest of Tehran, where hundreds of centrifuge (estimated by reports of about 3000) were hidden in a clear goal: protecting them from air and missile strikes.
The construction of the “Fordo” facility began in secret in the early 21st century, amid the escalation of international pressure on Nuclear program The Iranian, and the facility continued to fold the secrecy until September 2009, when the United States, Britain and France announced the discovery of the facility jointly, accusing Iran of hiding a second uranium enrichment location from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
After the tripartite announcement, Iran officially approved the existence of the facility and allowed it to search it, and Tehran insisted that the site is dedicated to peaceful purposes, especially fuel production for reactors and nuclear search stations, but the secret construction and the fortified site under the mountains raised great doubts about the possibility of military targets for the facility, especially in the event of an armed conflict or the failure of the diplomatic path.
The Fordo facility is located near the village of the same name, about 32 kilometers south of the city of Qom, in a rugged mountainous terrain from the Albrez mountain range, and what distinguishes the site is that it is buried in the depth of a mountain consisting of natural and industrial protection layers, which makes it safer more than the facilities built on the surface of the earth such as “Natanz”, “Bushehr” and others.
The underground enrichment halls are concentrated at a depth of about 100 meters, which makes their destruction using air strikes or traditional bombs is very difficult, and the operational area inside the mountain is estimated at several thousand square meters, and it is designed to accommodate thousands of centrifuges and the accompanying infrastructure.
The purpose announced by the Fordo facility is the production of low -enriched uranium for its use in Stations Nuclear energy, designed to include about 3 thousand “IR-1” central expelling devices, distributed in two basic chains of enrichment, and unlike “Natanz” that focuses on the volume of production, “Fordo” was built on the principle of strategic survival under the threat conditions.
According to the nuclear agreement concluded in 2015, Iran agreed to convert “Fordo” into a research center for radioisotopes, and stopped enriching uranium inside it, as it removed most of the expulsion devices, but after the United States withdrew from the agreement in 2018 during the presidency of Donald Trump, Iran resumed enrichment activities, and began installing advanced “IR-6”, where where, where There are more than 2000 of them, which increased its ability to enrich in a high rate.
In recent years, Iran has reached uranium enrichment inside “Fordo” by up to 60%, a level that approaches 90% required to produce a nuclear weapon, which has caused great concern among Western powers.
Is super -fortified bombs sufficient to destroy “Fordo”?
Although he was not previously attacked, such as those that targeted “Natanz”, “Fordo” was a center of interest for intelligence investigations and reports, and directed the sudden disclosure of the facility a blow to Iran’s credibility with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and increased the confidence gap.
The agency reported repeated changes in enrichment activities, the installation of advanced devices, and excesses of the conditions of the nuclear agreement.
In 2022, Iran began to enrich uranium by 60% using “IR-6” devices, which sparked an international condemnation and reprimand from the agency’s governor council, considering that this step means that Iran A short distance from the “nuclear penetration”, that is, sufficient fissile materials to make a nuclear weapon in a short time.
The “Fordo” website has a special place within the Iranian nuclear structure, especially since its deep location inside a mountain makes it one of the most difficult goals in the Iranian nuclear arsenal, and it is also an alternative option in the event of “Natanz” attack or destruction.
It is located at a depth of approximately 100 meters in Jabal Sakhri, which makes its destruction with traditional bombs is almost impossible, and according to defensive experts from America and Israel, even the supernatural bombs of the fortifications such as “GBU-57” may not be sufficient to destroy the entire facility, unless repeated and accurately coordinated attacks.
#Iranian #Fordo #facility #uranium #enrichment #Algeria
oussama_boulegheb