Iran Joins Pioneering Countries in N. Technologies http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8912250870

Iran joined the six pioneering states in nuclear-related technologies after it unveiled some astonishing achievements in this field during a recent exhibition of strategic technologies. During the exhibition which was attended by Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, Iran unveiled Million-electron-Volt (MeV) accelerator, semi-industrial units for nuclear-grade graphite and nuclear fusion machine and reactor. MeV-10 electron accelerator with 100-KW power was designed and developed by the Atomic Science and Technology Research Institute of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). 

The semi-industrial unit for production of nuclear grade graphite, too, was designed and developed in the same institute. The research and work on the nuclear fusion device, named IR-IECF, was carried out by the Iranian scientists at the Plasma Physics and Nuclear Fusion Laboratory. The device uses Inertial Electrostatic Confinement method and can produce isotopes and radioisotopes used for diagnosing and curing cancers. 

With the technology, the Islamic Republic of Iran became the sixth country in the world to possess the fusion technology. The US, Japan, South Korea, Australia and France are the only countries which boast about their advancements in fusion technology. In nuclear physics, nuclear chemistry and astrophysics nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy. Large-scale thermonuclear fusion processes, involving many nuclei fusing at once, must occur in matter at very high densities and temperatures.