Hmm, to think that had the JCPOA not been canned, this discussion probably would not even be happening...
The thing is, with reactor technology and purification plants, it is not difficult to enrich uranium, but between reactor grade and weapons grade the purity level is considerably increased - lots of science stuff I'm not all that familiar with. Iran doesn't have the technology to go down the plutonium route, so they rely on U235, which is less pure and far less abundant than U238, these two are the primary elements extracted from natural ore that are useful in civil and military use. The latter is where your weapons grade plutonium comes from, but as I've mentioned in a different thread, extraction of Pu239 from uranium is very difficult to do without it devolving into Pu240, which is completely unsuitable for weapons use. Therefore, dirty U235 is the element under enrichment at Fordow. It can be used for basic weapons, the Little Boy bomb's fissile element was U235, as we know, but given that technology is more than 80 years old is widely known about, and Iran has yet to produce an operational nuclear weapon, they are clearly having difficulty with the purification process.
Under the JCPOA, the Fordow enrichment plant was to be downgraded and its facilities to enrich uranium for weapons use were to be eliminated under the watchful eye of the IAEA, and even though Iran didn't stick to the deal entirely, leading to the USA pulling the plug in 2018, the Iranians agreed to downgrade Fordow. Canning the JCPOA in 2018 meant Iran actually has increased their enrichment plans; there were more than 3,000 centrifuges on site and work ramped up following the deal's dissolving, which increased its enriched uranium holdings by a vast amount since. The rest of the world watches in incredulity at the ridiculous decisions of the few...
The thing is, with reactor technology and purification plants, it is not difficult to enrich uranium, but between reactor grade and weapons grade the purity level is considerably increased - lots of science stuff I'm not all that familiar with. Iran doesn't have the technology to go down the plutonium route, so they rely on U235, which is less pure and far less abundant than U238, these two are the primary elements extracted from natural ore that are useful in civil and military use. The latter is where your weapons grade plutonium comes from, but as I've mentioned in a different thread, extraction of Pu239 from uranium is very difficult to do without it devolving into Pu240, which is completely unsuitable for weapons use. Therefore, dirty U235 is the element under enrichment at Fordow. It can be used for basic weapons, the Little Boy bomb's fissile element was U235, as we know, but given that technology is more than 80 years old is widely known about, and Iran has yet to produce an operational nuclear weapon, they are clearly having difficulty with the purification process.
Under the JCPOA, the Fordow enrichment plant was to be downgraded and its facilities to enrich uranium for weapons use were to be eliminated under the watchful eye of the IAEA, and even though Iran didn't stick to the deal entirely, leading to the USA pulling the plug in 2018, the Iranians agreed to downgrade Fordow. Canning the JCPOA in 2018 meant Iran actually has increased their enrichment plans; there were more than 3,000 centrifuges on site and work ramped up following the deal's dissolving, which increased its enriched uranium holdings by a vast amount since. The rest of the world watches in incredulity at the ridiculous decisions of the few...