What does it take to make a nuclear weapon?

Science Weekly

The Guardian

Science

4.2 • 938 Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

In an interview last weekend, Iran’s ambassador to the UN said his country’s nuclear enrichment ‘will never stop’ because it is permitted for ‘peaceful energy’ purposes. It is the latest development in an escalation of tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme, which erupted when Israel targeted the country’s nuclear facilities in June. To understand why enrichment is so important, Madeleine Finlay talks to Robin Grimes, professor of materials physics at Imperial College London. He explains what goes into creating a nuclear weapon, and why getting to the stage of weaponisation is so difficult. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The Guardian.
0:10.6	On Friday the 13th of June, Israel launched military strikes that targeted some of Iran's nuclear facilities,
0:19.8	following claims Iran were secretly developing nuclear weapon
0:23.4	capabilities. Israel has launched what it is calling a preemptive strike on Iran. While we have
0:29.4	seen explosions in Iran tonight, we're working this hour to determine the scale and the scope of the
0:34.3	attack that is unfolding right now as we come on the air.
0:42.8	A week later, further U.S. strikes hit Ful Dau, Natanz, and Isfahan.
0:50.3	Tonight I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success.
0:57.0	Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. The UN Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency says the strikes have
1:03.0	clearly caused severe damage, but that Iran will probably be able to produce enriched uranium
1:09.0	again in a matter of months.
1:10.9	The capacities they have are there, they can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say,
1:18.1	a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium.
1:25.3	And on Sunday, Iran's ambassador to the UN confirmed that the strikes haven't dampened
1:30.3	Iran's nuclear plans, telling CBS news that the country's nuclear enrichment will never stop.
1:36.9	The enrichment is our right, and we want to implement this right.
1:44.6	So today, what exactly is enrichment?
1:48.6	And why is it key to the development of nuclear weapons?
1:52.0	From The Guardian, I'm Madeleine Finley, and this is Science Weekly.
2:06.7	If we go back to the Manhattan Project, they dropped two nuclear weapons.
2:11.7	One was based on plutonium as the source of the energy.
2:14.6	That underwent a process called fission.
	...

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