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Iran pushes ahead on nuclear path
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-13 09:30
As the U.S. and Europe struggle to stop Iran's uranium development, the
Iranians are pushing ahead on another track that could also lead to a nuclear
bomb — construction of a heavy-water reactor that can produce weapons-grade
plutonium, AP reported.
It will take at least another four years for Iran to complete the reactor,
making it a less immediate worry for the West than the uranium program, parts of
which are either in operation or ready to go at a moment's notice.
But ultimately, the heavy-water reactor could prove more dangerous, since
bombs made with plutonium are smaller and easier to fit onto a ballistic
missile.
In a comprehensive package aimed at reining in Iran's nuclear program, Europe
proposed that it give up the heavy-water project in return for a light-water
reactor, seen by arms control experts as easier to monitor to ensure it's not
being used for weapons.
Iranian influential former President, Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani, delivers a sermon, during the Friday prayer at the
Tehran University campus, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Aug. 12, 2005.
[AP] | Iran — which says its nuclear program is peaceful — rejected the entire
package this week. The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization called the
heavy-water reactor offer a "joke."
"We have developed this capability. The heavy-water project today is a
reality," Gholamreza Aghazadeh, who is also vice president, said on state-run
television. "This knowledge belongs to Iran. Nobody can take it from us. As they
(Europeans) see Iran's determination, they will be forced to show flexibility
and accept it."
While Iran has agreed to suspend parts of its uranium program as a gesture in
negotiations with Europe, it has repeatedly rejected European calls for it to
freeze the heavy-water project, which is moving full steam ahead.
"Work has not been halted there even for a day, allowing Iran to constantly
advance its heavy-water project," US lawmaker Rasoul Sediqi Bonabi told The
Associated Press on Friday. Bonabi, a nuclear scientist, said Iran developed the
plant because the world would not give it "a drop of heavy water."
Iran insists its nuclear program is aimed only at producing electricity, but
the United States accuses it of secretly intending to build nuclear weapons.
Europe is trying through negotiations to persuade Iran to give up technology
that can be used for military purposes and limit its program to possessing
reactors using fuel provided from abroad.
The 40-megawatt heavy-water reactor could produce enough plutonium for a
nuclear weapon each year, an amount experts commonly say is 8.8 pounds.
The reactor — ringed with anti-aircraft guns as are all of Iran's nuclear
facilities — is being built at the foot of a mountain in the deserts outside the
small town of Khondab, 60 miles northwest of the central city of Arak.
Construction began in 2004 and is expected to be completed by 2009. Most
Iranian nuclear facilities have portions built underground to protect them from
airstrike — and Aghazadeh suggested that an underground portion may be built at
Khondab as well.
"This knowledge belongs to us. It (the knowledge) won't be destroyed if
attacked. Equipment could also be moved under the mountain," he said.
A plant next door began producing heavy water for the reactor last year,
using water from the nearby Qara-Chai River. It produces 16 tons of heavy water
a year, putting it on track to have the 90 tons needed by the time the reactor
is finished.
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear
watchdog, visited the Khondab facility in February 2003.
Nuclear weapons can be produced using either plutonium or highly enriched
uranium as the explosive core. Either substance can be produced in the process
of running a reactor.
Uranium is enriched by turning the raw ore into gas, which is then spun in
centrifuges. If it is enriched to a low level, it can be used as fuel for a
reactor; at a high level, it can be used for a bomb.
Iran's enrichment program is at an advanced stage, with thousands of
centrifuges ready to start working. While Iran is continuing its suspension of
enrichment, it ended its freeze this week on the first step in the process —
turning raw uranium into gas — bringing a sharp rebuke from Europe.
Reactors fueled by enriched uranium use regular — or "light" — water as a
"moderator" in the chain reaction that produces energy. The Khandub reactor,
however, uses "heavy water," which contains a heavier hydrogen particle. That
allows the reactor to run on natural uranium mined by Iran, forgoing the
expensive process of enrichment.
The spent fuel from a heavy-water reactor can be reprocessed to extract
plutonium for use in a bomb.
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