Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 23
By Khalid Kazimov – Trend:
Iran and China have signed an agreement on redesigning the Islamic Republic’s heavy water reactor of Arak, IRNA news agency reported.
According to the report, the deal on modernizing the nuclear reactor in central Iran came as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA aka nuclear deal) implemented last January.
Under the deal signed on April 23 in Vienna, China will oversee the projects prepared by Iranian experts on modernizing the nuclear reactor.
The report added that China must confirm whether the projects meet the international standards on safety.
Under the nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers, the US and China should approve the project for modernizing the Arak heavy water reactor.
The 40-megawatt Arak reactor is intended to produce isotopes for cancer and other medical treatments. Iran is redesigning the planned research reactor to sharply cut its potential output of plutonium.
Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, earlier said that the amount of plutonium the reactor will be able to yield will be reduced to less than 1 kg a year from 9-10 kg in its original design. Iran had earlier removed the sensitive core of the Arak nuclear reactor.