Reports
From the Iranian Nuclear Archive: Image of Flyer Plate and Assembly System
May 13, 2019
Download PDF
An Iranian image of an assembly device for the central portion of a nuclear explosive, where in this model, a surrogate metal would be used instead of highly enriched uranium. It contains what the Israelis call the “flyer plate” of the inner part of a nuclear device, and a core made of a surrogate material instead of highly enriched uranium (inner core not visible in the image, but see video referenced below). The external set of two hemispheres is apparently the flyer plate; one can also be seen in the background on the left. This device is seen in a simulation in a video of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presenting on the Nuclear Archive on April 30, 2018, at about minute 6:45 of 19:48. The animation shows the device in action assembling the central part of a nuclear weapon. The air gap between the flyer plate and nuclear core is also visible in the video. It is significant that Iran built this assembly, which appears to be for use here with a surrogate metal core of material, and not an actual nuclear weapon. It is unclear if it is a full-size assembly device. Source of image and text: Senior Israeli officials. The video can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkihrV4cZLE.
email us
twitter
share on facebook