Tehran: The US on Sunday bombed 3 nuclear facilities in Iran. The plants targeted were the Forodow, Natanz, and Esfahan nuclear plants. The strikes were confirmed by the US President Donald Trump himself.
Significance of Fordow nuclear plant
Among the targets of the US airstrikes was Iran’s Fordow nuclear power plant. This is a uranium enrichment plant hidden in a remote mountainside that is vital to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, reported BBC.
The Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant is said to be Iran’s most secretive and heavily guarded nuclear facility. It is located around 100 kilometres southwest of capital Tehran. The nuclear facility is reportedly buried deep beneath a mountain. The location of this nuclear facility made it verty difficult to target. It was only the US which could have targeted this nuclear facility, using their B-2 bombers.
The Fordow nuclear plant is capable of housing 3,000 centrifuges – which are used to enrich uranium, both for civilian and military use, said a report in NDTV. The radioactive metal needs to be enriched to high levels for use in atomic weapons. The facility was designed to resist airstrikes and foreign interference. The facility is located at a place which once served as a missile base controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Iran hid its existence from nuclear watchdogs for several years. However in 2009, Western intelligence agencies exposed the site and this forced Iran to disclose the location to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The plant was built to hold at least 3,000 IR-1 centrifuges, which were arranged in 2 sections. The base of the nuclear plant was protected by a surface to air missile, built by Russia, the S-300 system. It was built in a manner that it could sustain bombardment. This nuclear facility was known for its depth and made it difficult for conventional bombs and even advanced Israeli ammunitions to reach it and destroy. Israel lacked the weapons needed to destroy the nuclear facility.
