Arak Heavy Water Reactor to be Modernized with Cooperation from Two 5+1 Members

Iran's President announced that the Arak heavy water reactor will be modernized with the cooperation of two members of the 5+1 group, and on the day the Vienna nuclear agreement is implemented, Iran will inject advanced IR-8 centrifuges with uranium hexafluoride (UF6). According to the state news agency IRNA, Hassan Rouhani stated on Wednesday, September 25, that after weeks of negotiations with the 5+1 group regarding this reactor, they said the heavy water reactor was unacceptable to them and that the term 'heavy water' should not be used in meetings. Mr. Rouhani indicated that ultimately the members of the 5+1 group accepted the 'advancement' of the Arak reactor by themselves, and Iran will modernize this reactor in cooperation with two countries from the 5+1 group. Under the nuclear agreement between Iran and the six world powers, Iran has agreed to change the design of the Arak reactor in a way that prevents the production of plutonium suitable for weapons, while also transferring spent fuel from the Arak reactor out of the country during its operation. This international cooperation will include the member countries of the 5+1 group and other countries agreed upon by the parties. Meanwhile, it was previously announced that a joint working group has been formed between Iran, the United States, and China regarding this matter. Two days prior to Mr. Rouhani's statements, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, held a trilateral meeting with representatives from the U.S. and China on this issue on the sidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency's General Conference in Vienna. Additionally, Wang Yi, China's foreign minister, emphasized on Tuesday after meeting with Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that China will fulfill its commitment to redesign the Arak heavy water reactor. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stated on July 23 during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting in defense of the nuclear agreement with Iran that Iran will remove the core of the Arak heavy water reactor and replace it with concrete. In response to these statements, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization reminded that 'the reactor pit is considered its heart and therefore will not be damaged,' and 'what will be filled with concrete is not the reactor pit but could be the steel tank inside it that will be removed from the reactor.' On Wednesday, the Iranian President, in another part of his speech, referred to the insistence of the 5+1 group to abandon the IR-8 centrifuges, stating that these centrifuges 'were an achievement of the eleventh government, and we could not disregard this important achievement of the government.' According to Mr. Rouhani, on the first day of the implementation of the Vienna nuclear agreement, gas (UF6) will be injected into the IR-8 centrifuges. Before the Vienna nuclear agreement, Ali Akbar Salehi had announced that until the continuation of the nuclear negotiations, Iran would not inject UF6 gas into the IR-8 centrifuges. Mr. Rouhani also mentioned that 'part of the Fordow facility is ready for enrichment, and the other part of Fordow will remain for new nuclear research.' He added, 'They said that because Fordow is underground, it should be completely closed; they asked why Fordow is underground? We would respond by asking them to question themselves. When you said you had things on the table, we had to go underground so that what was on your table would be ineffective.' According to the Vienna nuclear agreement, the Fordow nuclear facility will be converted into a research center. Meanwhile, the official Iranian news agency reported on September 23, citing a conversation with Sergey Kirienko, head of Rosatom, that Russia will participate in the plan to repurpose the Fordow nuclear center.