NEWS: Iran's Heavy Water Plant Nearly Done, page 1

According to the US think tank ISIS (Institute for Science and International Security), Iran has almost completed a heavy-water production plant that would supply necessary heavy water to the 40 megawatt heavy-water research reactor at Arak (150 miles south of Tehran) despite repeated calls by the EU and UN to scrap the project. Once the research reactor is functional it could eventually produce enough plutonium for one atomic bomb per year through a process known as reprocessing. This present development is likely to increase international suspicion over Iran's allegedly peaceful nuclear program.

www.reuters.com
On Thursday, Western diplomats close to the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Iran had already laid the foundations for the 40-megawatt heavy-water research reactor at Arak, despite calls by the European Union and the United Nations to scrap the project.
Heavy-water reactors can be used to produce significant amounts of bomb-grade plutonium, which can then be extracted from the spent fuel by a process known as reprocessing.
"No evidence of any reprocessing facilities can be seen in the satellite images," ISIS said in its analysis of the imagery.
David Albright, who heads ISIS and was formery a U.N. weapons inspector, said he had also seen photographs of what appeared to be steam coming out of the Arak heavy water plant.
"We think they have been testing it," Albright said.

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With the development of such research reactors and recent revelations of massive underground complexes Iran's claim of peaceful nuclear program is very questionable. Even the Israeli's are watchful of the Iranian program as this would mean that we have a nuclear Middle East. The most troubled region in the world going nuclear id going to cause quite a stir and I am sure once the rest of the world has concrete proof we are going to have another Iraq on our hands. It all depends on how the Iranians handle the situation; they are quite smart so I think they will strike a deal to supply them with reactor grade uranium for their reactors instead of enriching uranium themselves.
I think countries like Russia have to be more responsible before they begin to make nuclear deals with Iran as they recently have. This will simply worsen the situation in an already volatile Middle East.

Related News Links:
news.bbc.co.uk
www.isis-online.org
www.isis-online.org

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
POLITICS: Iran and Russia Agree on Second Nuclear Reactor at Bushehr

[edit on 5-3-2005 by Banshee]