Arak Reactor, IR-2 Centrifuges Among Iran’s Demands at Nuclear Talks

Iran will not give up the future use of advanced IR-2M centrifuges and its heavy water Arak reactor as part of any long-term comprehensive agreement with the world powers, said Hamid Baeedinejad, a member of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team. (IRNA, 16 February)

Under the 24 November Geneva agreement, in force for six months, Iran has stopped construction activities to complete its Arak reactor and has agreed not to replace the older IR-1 centrifuges with the advanced machines.

If the completion and operationalization of Arak and the future use of the new centrifuges are Iran’s non-negotiable demands, as suggested by Baeedinejad, they could become obstacles to strike a final and comprehensive deal with the world powers at talks that will begin later this week in Vienna. It is also not clear why Iran accepted those limits in the interim Geneva agreement, if it does not accept them in any final deal.

File photo: Arak heavy-water nuclear reactor. (IRNA)

IAEA Inspects Heavy Water Production Plant at Arak

IAEA inspectors visited a heavy water production plant near the city of Arak in central Iran. The visit was the first time in more than two years that the inspectors had been allowed to visit the plant, which is designed to supply a nuclear research reactor under construction nearby.

Iran agreed in Geneva last month not to commission or fuel the Arak reactor, IR-40, as part of a six-month interim agreement with P5+1.

The Arak reactor is significant because if completed, it would produce plutonium, which could be processed for a nuclear weapon, an alternative route to uranium-based weaponization.

Abbas Araqchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister and nuclear negotiator, today was quoted by ISNA as saying negotiations at the foreign minister level with the six major powers would resume after January 2014. (AFP, 8 December)

File photo: Arak Heavy Water Production Plant (AFP) 

Iran Delays Start-up of Nuclear Reactor

Iran has postponed the planned start-up of Arak heavy-water nuclear reactor until 2014, the IAEA reported. Arak could yield plutonium for nuclear weapons if the spent fuel is reprocessed, but Iran insists that it plans to use the reactor solely as a nuclear research facility.

“Iran stated that the operation of the IR-40 (Arak) reactor was now expected to commence in the first quarter of 2014,” the IAEA report said. Iran has given no reason for the postponement. (Reuters, 17 November)

India, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan are among countries that operate heavy water reactors to make plutonium for weapons.

Arak Reactor Fuel Ready

Arak Heavy Water Reactor

(Fars News Agency Photo)

The director of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) reported today that Iran has produced its own fuel pellets and fuel rods for the heavy water reactor in Arak. Gholam Reza Aghazadeh said the Fuel Manufacturing Plant in Isfahan is producing the pellets and the rods (IRNA, 24 November)

The 40-megawatt heavy water nuclear reactor is under construction in Arak and it is expected to become operational in mid-2008. Arak plutonium-based reactor was being built on a parallel track to that of Natanz uranium-based reactor.

Both plutonium and uranium can be used in nuclear-weapon production. Nuclear experts believe plutonium-based reactors provide a simpler way of producing weapon-grade fuel. Iran insists that Arak is only a scientific research reactor replacing a smaller one in Tehran.