Tehran-Sana
The head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, affirmed that the construction and design of the Khandab heavy water reactor in the city of Arak, central Iran, is one of the country's largest nuclear achievements and falls within the international nuclear agreement.
Salehi said in a statement on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of the second orbit of the Khandab nuclear reactor today, "The goal of establishing the advanced Khandab Khamis heavy water reactor in Arak city is to acquire expertise and specialized science in the field of designing and building nuclear reactors and training the competent manpower."
Salehi pointed out that the nuclear agreement provides for the redesign of the Khendab reactor as part of a process for five years, but it witnessed a "slight" delay due to the sanctions imposed by the United States, which met with strong protest from Iran, indicating that, based on the nuclear agreement, the process of redesigning the reactor began. Khaddab through cooperation between Iran and China and the contribution of the rest of the agreement, including America, but after America withdrew from this international agreement, Britain replaced the latter.
Salehi stressed that Iran has not and will not seek to manufacture nuclear weapons, stressing that the plutium that is being produced cannot be used to make atomic bombs.
On cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Salehi confirmed that his country is cooperating with the agency within the framework of the safeguards agreement, the additional protocol and the nuclear agreement. He said, "We are not obligated to make any commitment outside the nuclear agreement, and we will implement what we promised along the lines of our procedures regarding the nuclear agreement."
It is noteworthy that today the second orbit of the heavy water reactor used for research purposes in the city of Arak was included, which includes heat exchangers, central basins and transport pumps, and the stages of redesign and manufacture of the special heavy water reactor for research at the Khandab nuclear facility in Arak city are in progress.