You don’t have any Active Subscription. Subscribed with another email. Logout and Login with that one. Your active subscription(s) Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more.
Unlock these with Subscription Products you've access to Additional Subscription Benefits Need help with your subscription. Updated - June 16, 2026 12:42 pm IST Centrifuges seen inside the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran.
| Photo Credit: AP Iran is expected to have around 500 kg of uranium enriched to 60%. U-235 is the isotope of uranium conventionally used in nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors. Enrichment is the process of increasing the quantity of U-235 in the uranium mass.
The rest will be U-238, which is not a good fissile material. Whereas a nuclear reactor producing electric power needs uranium to be enriched only up to 20%, a nuclear weapon generally needs 90%.
So the question is: if Iran has uranium enriched to 60%, what time and resources lie between this point and Iran possessing an a-bomb.
Published - April 03, 2026 07:15 am IST The Hindu Explains / Iran / Israel / nuclear weapons / World Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal.
Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments.
Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.