Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization: The Arak Reactor Pit Will Not Be Filled with Concrete

The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization described U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's statements about filling the pit of the Arak heavy water reactor with concrete as a 'mistake.' On Wednesday, August 21, Ali Akbar Salehi stated that if concrete were poured into the pit of the Arak reactor, 'there would essentially be no reactor left,' thus deeming Kerry's remarks 'incorrect.' Kerry had mentioned on August 1, during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting, that under the nuclear agreement, Iran would remove the core from the Arak reactor and replace it with concrete. However, Salehi rejected these claims, asserting that 'the reactor pit is considered its heart and therefore will not be damaged and will remain intact.' He emphasized that what would be filled with concrete is not the reactor pit but rather the steel container inside it, which will be removed from the reactor. According to him, the steel container is to be taken out of the pit, and several actions can be performed on this container, including pouring concrete into it to assure the nuclear agreement parties that Iran no longer intends to return it to the reactor. Kerry's comments about pouring concrete into the Arak reactor pit have drawn criticism from Iranian hardliners, including Mohammad Javad Larijani, the Deputy for International Affairs in the Judiciary, who called it 'an insult to a nation.' Larijani told Tasnim News Agency, 'Filling the heart of the Arak reactor with concrete is the ultimate humiliation of a nation; why would we do such a thing? In my opinion, not even a needle's worth of what we have should be destroyed. Our children built this. This is not called redefinition; this is the destruction of the Arak reactor.'