There was some suspicion in the West that this report was just a ploy to try to justify continued production of uranium enriched to 20 percent, the type normally used to power subs.
Admiral Abbas Zamini, the deputy chief of the Navy for technical affairs, said Tuesday that Iran is in the “initial stages” of designing its first nuclear-powered craft.
Zamini said Iran has developed “peaceful nuclear technology” and stressed that Iran has both the capability and the right to build a nuclear submarine, without explaining any need.
Nuclear subs are used primarily by the United States and Russia to carry missiles that can attack the other country and that cannot be destroyed by the other because they cannot be found in the vast expanse of the world’s oceans.
Nuclear-powered submarines normally use reactors powered by fuel enriched to 20 percent. That enables the sub to produce more power in a smaller space than a normal reactor, thus saving space and weight, which is key on a vessel.
Some cynics suggested Iran was talking about nuclear-powered submarines in order to create a justification for continuing to enrich uranium to 20 percent. Western critics of Iran’s nuclear program have said Iran now has enough 20 percent enriched uranium to power its Tehran reactor, the only one in Iran that requires 20 percent uranium, for up to 20 years and argued that Iran can no longer justify continued output of 20 percent uranium—unless it is building a stockpile from which to prepare the 90 percent enriched uranium needed for weapons.
The Islamic Republic is in serial production of small Qadir-class submarines. But it has never built a large submarine—or a nuclear reactor for that matter—as of yet.
The main point of a nuclear submarine is its ability to remain submerged at length. Ordinary diesel subs are submerged only a few days at slow speeds and several hours at high speeds before surfacing to recharge their batteries. US nuclear subs normally remain submerged for an entire six-month deployment.
Iran, however, doesn’t even deploy its surface ships that long. The Islamic Republic only began making long-term deployments to the Gulf of Aden for anti-piracy duty two years ago. No ship has thus far been away from homeport for as much as 90 days. Generally they are deployed for 60 to 70 days.
Iran has three Russian-built Kilo-class submarines of 2,000 tons each. Zamini said the oldest of those, Tareq, recently set an Iranian record by being deployed, mostly on the surface, for 68 days.
Only six navies operate nuclear submarines—the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China and India. The first nuclear sub, the Nautilus, was launched by the United States in 1954.