Ali Asghar Zarean, the deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO), has been quoted by the media as saying that the landmark sales of heavy water supplies will be made to the US through a third party.
“Iran will sell 40 tons of its excess heavy water to the United States through a third country,” Zarean said.
He added that Iran would through this officially join the club of producers of strategic nuclear materials – what he emphasized will be “a huge national achievement” and “a victory” for the country.
“Six tons of the exported heavy water will be used in nuclear facilities and the rest in American research centers,” he further noted.
Iran has a heavy water production plant in its Arak nuclear site, which has been operating for several years.
Under its July deal with the P5+1 group — the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany — Iran has agreed to replace the core of the Arak heavy water reactor and take other steps to ensure it cannot be used to make nuclear weapons.
On a related front, IAEO Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi announced also on Tuesday that Iran’s recent importation of 220 tons of yellow cake from Russia was another key milestone in the country’s push toward the trade of the materials used for production of nuclear energy.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said last August that Iran will begin to commercialize its nuclear technology after the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“We will import yellow cake from abroad and we will export enriched UF6,” Rouhani told reporters.
The JCPOA also allows Iran to sell its enriched uranium material – called UF6 – and to buy natural uranium or “yellow cake” in return.
