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| Image: Wiki Commons |
By Ankit Panda
Iran has removed the core of the IR-40 heavy water reactor at Arak.On Monday, according to Iran’s semi-official
Fars news agency, the Iranian government oversaw the removal the core of the 40 MW IR-40 heavy water reactor at Arak and filled it with cement. The move effectively decommissions the heavy water reactor, which had never been operational, and marks a critical step toward Iran implementing its obligations under last July’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an international deal to limit its nuclear program. Under the deal, Iran will redesign and rebuild the reactor to pursue “peaceful nuclear research.” Under the JCPOA, Arak may only produce non-weapons-grade plutonium (plutonium without a high concentration of the element’s Pu-239 isotope) during normal operation.
In technical terms, what Iran has accomplished will effectively bar the production of weapons-grade plutonium in the country for what is certain to be decades. In addition to redesigning the reactor, Iran will be required to ship all spent fuel rods out of the country. The latter represents one of the few provisions in the JCPOA that has no end date. The JCPOA notes that “All spent fuel from the redesigned Arak reactor, regardless of its origin, for the lifetime of the reactor, will be shipped out of Iran.” In general, Iran won’t be permitted to build a new heavy water reactor for 15 years under the JCPOA.
Read the full story at The Diplomat