Iran clears up ambiguities over Arak reactor: AEOI

Iran has offered a scientific and logical proposal to clear up any ambiguities over the country’s Arak heavy-water reactor, a senior Iranian official says.

After the signing of the Geneva deal dubbed the Joint Plan of Action between Iran and six world powers, Tehran put forward a scientific plan to resolve the West’s alleged concerns over the Arak reactor, whose closure had been demanded by the Western states, said Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi on Wednesday.

In November 2013, Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the US, France, Russia, China and Britain – plus Germany sealed an interim deal in Geneva to set the stage for the full resolution of the dispute over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program.

“In our plan, we explained that we would redesign the heart of the Arak reactor, so that its production of plutonium will decrease drastically. They (Iran’s negotiating partners) were surprised when they saw our scientific and logical reaction,” Salehi said.

The Arak reactor, which uses natural uranium to produce radio medicines, is planned to gradually replace the Tehran Research Reactor, which produces medical radioisotopes for cancer patients.

Commenting on Tehran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Salehi said that Iran has no problems with the agency over its nuclear program, adding, “We have answered all their technical questions regarding nuclear issues.”

Under an agreement reached between Iran and the IAEA in November 2013, the agency’s inspectors visited the Arak heavy water production plant on December 8, 2013.

The IAEA inquiry is separate from, but complementary to higher-level talks between Iran and the six nations, which are aimed at reaching a final agreement over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.