Secondary Circuit of Arak Heavy Water Reactor to become operational: Official

A special assistant to the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced that the secondary circuit of Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor will come on stream within the next two weeks.

Iran PressIran news: During a visit to an exhibition of Iran’s nuclear achievements in the southeastern city of Kerman on Sunday, a special assistant to the head of the AEOI Ali Asghar Zare'an said that the secondary circuit of Arak heavy water reactor, which is being redesigned, will come into service in about two weeks.

He also noted that Iran annually produces 20 tons of heavy water and exports the material to a number of countries, adding that the annual capacity of heavy water production in the country stands at 25 tons.

Zare'an announced that Iran is among the 10 countries in the world which possess the complete nuclear fuel cycle technology, adding that Iran's technical expertise has angered Western countries.

The official further stressed that Iran has become self-sufficient in designing and manufacturing centrifuge machines and is capable of producing any type of centrifuge it wants.

In comments on October 7, Head of the AEOI Ali Akbar Salehi said: "We will make the second part of the Arak heavy water reactor facility operational as early as the next three weeks; The reactor consists of primary and secondary sections and most nuclear processes occur in the latter."

Iran and the 5+1 Group (made up of Russia, China, United States, Britain, France, and Germany) signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in July 2015 and started to implement it in January 2016.

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EU's Borrell calls for saving JCPOA

In May 2018, the US withdrew from the nuclear deal. According to the JCPOA, Iran is entitled to redesign and rebuild a modernized heavy water research reactor in Arak, based on an agreed conceptual design, using fuel enriched up to 3.67 %, in the form of an international partnership which will certify the final design of the reactor. In November 2015, the document on redesigning the heavy water reactor was signed by all parties to the JCPOA. 

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