Latest news with #LaurenceWilliams
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why did the US attack on Iran avoid some nuclear sites?
It was one of the most sophisticated bombing campaigns in history. But an analysis of the sites targeted by suggests they may have been deliberately limited to avoid widespread radioactive contamination and the international condemnation that would almost certainly follow. The stated aim of the bombing raids was to eliminate the potential threat to Israel and the wider of a nuclear-armed Iran. US and Israeli forces targeted seven key facilities associated with Iran's nuclear programme. But despite their scale, the attacks weren't comprehensive. At least 10 sites associated with Iran's nuclear capability were apparently untouched. Some may have been spared because they weren't considered an imminent threat. Facilities like the Lashkar Ab'ad nuclear enrichment plant. A decade ago it was involved in the faster, but technically challenging method of using lasers rather than centrifuges to enrich uranium. But Iran seems instead to have invested far more effort in using the slower, but more well-understood method that uses centrifuges to spin a gaseous form of uranium - uranium hexafluoride - to enrich it. Perhaps making Lashkar Ab'ad not worth the cost of an expensive bomb or missile. Then there's the Mt. Kolang Gaz La complex. Based on our assessment of the latest satellite images, the underground complex immediately adjacent to the Natanz nuclear facility also wasn't targeted. Perhaps because it is still under construction. However, once it is complete, and if, as most analysts assume, Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium escaped destruction in the raids, it would be a very good place to hide it. Read more: The mountain of Kolang Gaz La is far higher than the one sheltering the recently attacked . If the tunnel complex being built beneath it is completed, it would be a far more challenging target for America's bunker-busting bombs. But other sites may well have been spared to avoid a national, potentially international, nuclear disaster. Nearly all the sites hit were involved with Uranium enrichment, like the centrifuge facilities at Natanz and Fordow. And while uranium is radioactive, targeting enrichment facilities doesn't pose the same radioactive risk as other processes. Uranium is very heavy. Even if hoisted into the air by a bomb - it quickly falls to the ground. Read more: "If you were to expose uranium hexafluoride to the atmosphere, then it reacts with the water and the uranium drops out," said Prof Laurence Williams, former UK chief inspector of nuclear installations. Although it would be dangerous to anyone close - the other part of the reaction forms hydrofluoric acid which is incredibly toxic - the radioactive uranium would effectively stay close to where it started. Nuclear reactors are a very different story. While operating, reactors contain a complex soup of radioactive elements. Some of these, like strontium, caesium and iodine are lightweight, or volatile, as well as highly radioactive. "If they escape, then they're going to get into the atmosphere," said Prof Williams. "If you've a force, like in the case of , where you had a fire which was elevating the volatiles, then they get into [the] atmosphere and then get distributed by normal atmospheric dispersion." In short, bombing a nuclear reactor would lead to potentially widespread nuclear contamination certainly nearby, and potentially beyond Iran's borders. For this reason, Israeli and US commanders may have deliberately avoided targeting them. At Isfahan for example, Israeli, and then American, raids destroyed multiple buildings linked to Uranium enrichment. But neither hit buildings that house small research reactors on the site. The same goes for the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in the south of , and the Tehran Nuclear Research Reactor located in the capital city. But reactors are important if Iran were to be pursuing a nuclear weapon. During operation, most designs produce plutonium as a by-product. Perfect for making nuclear bombs. And making plutonium in a reactor is much faster than enriching uranium using centrifuges. And this probably explains why Israel bombed Iran's Arak Heavy Water Reactor, which would have been capable of making 9kg of plutonium a year. The likely reason they did is because the reactor was in the process of being rebuilt and contained no fuel - and therefore there was no risk of nuclear disaster. All this goes to show these recent strikes may well have been a compromise. The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned both Israel and America of the danger of targeting nuclear sites. While America and Israel may have wanted to wipe out Iran's nuclear ambitions, the risk of civilian casualties exposed to radioactive fallout from bombing and the international outcry that would create, left them pulling their punches. Additional reporting by Data and Forensics journalists Kaitlin Tosh and Sophia Massam, OSINT Editor Adam Parker, and OSINT producer Freya Gibson.
CBC
07-06-2025
- General
- CBC
Sherbrooke, Que., faces growing pains as it looks to expand its cycling network
On her daily rides through Sherbrooke, Que., Laurence Williams often finds herself cruising along a bike path — until it suddenly comes to an end. A self-described "utilitarian cyclist," who uses her bicycle for all her transportation needs, Williams says it's possible to get around the city by bike. But it's not always easy. "Sometimes you have a beginning of a bike path and then it just stops," Williams says, adding that this kind of interruption is common on the cycling network in the city, located 150 kilometres east of Montreal. Aside from being inconvenient to someone who is looking for the fastest route to a given destination, Williams feels that the variability in what kinds of infrastructure exist for cyclists also makes her commutes more dangerous, because it is harder to know what is coming up around the next corner. "When you use your bike on a day-to-day basis, you want your route to be quick, to be safe and predictable," she says. Williams argues that in a city like Sherbrooke where there appears to be political will for bike and environmentally friendly initiatives, she expects it to be easier to make progress. "In a context where ecological transition has been mentioned as a priority for the City of Sherbrooke and a context where more than 50 per cent of our citywide greenhouse gas emissions are directly related to transportation, we really need to go faster." 'A big challenge' for the city In May, Sherbrooke highlighted 16 areas where expansions to the cycling network have been planned. Over the next three years, the hope is to bridge a number of significant gaps in the existing system. According to Anne-Sophie Demers, a division chief for sustainable and integrated mobility with Sherbrooke's Strategic Territorial Development Service, the goal of these priority areas is to improve the connectivity between different parts of the network. "It is a big challenge for our team because the context and situation is never the same," Demers says. Demers and her team have been charged with trying to determine how best to implement safe and functional bike paths on existing roads without disrupting the needs of existing traffic. It is an urban planning puzzle, she said, because some roads are simply not large enough to accommodate both drivers and cyclists on fully protected bike lanes. Despite those difficulties, Demers says that the city has been in conversation with local cycling groups to try to find the best options available in the hopes that a more secure cycling network will open the door to more cyclists. The city is also trying to improve access to bikes in other ways. Demers notes that there is currently work underway for the installation of Bixi bike-sharing stations similar to the system that has been in place in Montreal for more than a decade "We think it has the potential to transform mobility in Sherbrooke." The initial Bixi system in Sherbrooke is expected to have 250 bicycles at 25 stations, with 80 per cent of the fleet being e-bikes. Although no official start date has yet been announced, Demers says the system should be operational by July. A city with a lot of potential "The arrival of e-bikes has literally changed the landscape of who's able to cycle," says Magali Bebronne, director of programs at Vélo Québec. The cycling advocacy group is one of the parties Demers's team has turned to for support and data in its planning process. Vélo Québec conducts regular research into the state of bicycle adoption in several different Quebec cities, including Sherbrooke. For a city as hilly as Sherbrooke, Bebronne says bikes equipped with an electric motor are a game changer for cycling accessibility. That, combined with the known benefits of public-access bicycle programs like Bixi, creates an interesting opportunity for increased adoption of cycling as a way of getting around in the city. Vélo Québec also publishes a portrait of cycling in the province every five years and, although the 2020 report was carried out in unusual circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic, research showed that just over half of all Quebecers were using a bicycle and 2.1 million people were using one as a regular mode of transportation. Bebronne says the group is currently in the process of preparing the 2025 edition. Bebronne also challenges the idea that using bikes in this way is uniquely a "big city" phenomenon. "In smaller cities, people actually live closer to where they work," Bebronne explains, noting that Vélo Québec's last study of Sherbrooke showed that about 44 per cent of the population live within five kilometres of their work.
