Iran to Start Constructing Re-Designed Arak Heavy Reactor Soon, Says AEOI

The spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says the country will soon start re-building the Arak heavy water reactor once China finishes examining the last phase of the re-designing process.

China and Iran “have had several contracts that are now operational and various steps of conceptual, basic and detailed designing are completed and after that the construction phase will begin,” Behrouz Kamalvandi said in an interview with the Young Journalists’ Club (YJC) published on Wednesday.

 “According to the timetable, we have fortunately made good progress, and the detailed stage has been completed on our part and delivered to the Chinese side, which, after their approval, will enter the next stage within 2 to 3 months, that is, we’ll start the next phase of building and [installing the reactor’s] equipment,” he added.

Kamalvandi said the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal would not affect the re-designing process and noted that the Chinese side has reaffirmed its commitment to the JCPOA, and the Arak reactor re-designing.

In April 2017, Iran and China signed the final version of a contract to redesign and modernize the Arak heavy water reactor in central Iran, an important step in line with the implementation of the JCPOA.

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