Iran To Launch Auxiliary Part Of Arak Heavy Water Reactor Within 3 Weeks - AEOI Chief

Iran to Launch Auxiliary Part of Arak Heavy Water Reactor Within 3 Weeks - AEOI Chief

Iran will launch an auxiliary part of a heavy water nuclear reactor in Arak within three weeks, Iranian Vice President and head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi, said on Monday

TEHRAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th October, 2019) Iran will launch an auxiliary part of a heavy water nuclear reactor in Arak within three weeks, Iranian Vice President and head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi, said on Monday.

"Within the next 2-3 weeks, we will launch the auxiliary part of the reactor in Arak. The reactor in Arak has two parts, the core and the auxiliary one. The main part of the processes is carried out in the auxiliary part," Salehi said as quoted by the IRNA news agency.

One of the conditions of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) for the Iranian nuclear program was that Iran would rebuild the modernized reactor in Arak for peaceful nuclear research and production of radioisotopes for medical and industrial purposes.

Tehran earlier announced the third stage of reducing the obligations under the nuclear deal, declaring its ability to restore the nuclear reactor in Arak as it was before the JCPOA was concluded in summer 2015.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew his country from the Iran nuclear deal and reimposed economic sanctions on Tehran. Exactly a year later, Iran announced its own decision to partially suspend its JCPOA obligations and gave the other signatories a deadline of 60 days to save the accord. As the deadline expired, Iran said it would begin enriching uranium beyond the JCPOA-set 3.67-percent level, warning to gradually abandon its nuclear commitments every 60 days.