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122 points jbegley | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.44s | source
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cluckindan ◴[] No.44369995[source]
You don’t need to be a genius to figure out that centrifuges installed 70–80 meters underground will be largely unaffected by bombs which are believed to have an effect down to a depth of 60 meters.
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FuriouslyAdrift ◴[] No.44371331[source]
Overpressure... as the Russians taught to the Afghani's, a small explosion in an enclosed space does massive damage to both soft and hard materials.

You don't have to blow something up to destroy it.

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1. ethbr1 ◴[] No.44381346[source]
Centrifuges and driving equipment, sure.

But U-235 doesn't stop being U-235 because you pressurized or heated it up. Can't blow up atoms.

Best case, instead of a pile of enriched uranium, you now have a highly concentrated mine.

Sure, you'd have to separate it again, but getting U-235 away from dirt and rock is a lot easier than separating it from other uranium isotopes.

Even if it was stored as volatile UF6, what, you've converted it to UO2F2 / U3O8?

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2. FuriouslyAdrift ◴[] No.44391027[source]
They can buy enriched uranium from at least 2 sources...

The expertise and equipment to develop and maintain a nuclear arsenal at scale is vastly more important.