Iran to Finalize Contract with China on Arak Reactor Renovation
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran is going to sign the final version of a contract with China for modernization of a heavy water reactor that Tehran has undertaken to redesign under a lasting nuclear deal with world powers, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said.
In an interview with ICANA on Tuesday, Salehi said the contract with China to modernize the Arak reactor is going to be finalized in Vienna within the next week.
The 200-page contract contains a lot of details covering different aspects of Tehran-Beijing cooperation in the nuclear project, he explained.
According to Salehi, the responsibility to design the reactor in Arak and its equipment lies only with Iran, while China and the US will evaluate the designing plan scientifically once it is over.
“It has been mentioned in the contract that those two countries (China and the US) should certify Iran’s designs as the end,” the Iranian nuclear chief announced.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) reached a conclusion on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in July 2015 and started to implement it in January 2016.
According to the JCPOA, “Iran will redesign and rebuild a modernised heavy water research reactor in Arak, based on an agreed conceptual design, using fuel enriched up to 3.67 %, in a form of an international partnership which will certify the final design.”
In November 2015, the document on redesigning the heavy water reactor was signed by all parties to the JCPOA.
