Posted on 09/01/2006 6:02:37 AM PDT by cartan
Following are excerpts from an interview with Mohammad Sa'idi, International Affairs Deputy in the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, which aired on the Iranian News Channel (IRINN) on August 27, 2006.
Interviewer: You just said that in some cases, heavy water can even be used for drinking.
Mohammad Sa'idi: Yes.
Interviewer: Could you elaborate on this?
Mohammad Sa'idi: One of the products of heavy water is depleted deuterium. As you know, in an environment with depleted deuterium, the reception of cancer cells and of the AIDS viruses is disrupted. Since this reception is disrupted, the cells are gradually expelled from the body. Obviously, one glass of depleted deuterium will not expel or cure the cancer or eliminate the AIDS. We are talking about a certain period of time. In many countries that deal with these diseases, patients use this kind of water instead of regular water, and consume it daily in order to heal their diseases.
In other words, the issue of heavy water has to do with matters of life and death, in many cases. One of the reasons that led us to produce heavy water was to use it for agricultural... medical purposes, and especially for industrial purposes in our country.
[…]
There is no connection whatsoever between heavy water and plutonium. As I have said, the nuclear industry can be used for diverse purposes.
Interviewer: Right.
Mohammad Sa'idi: Some countries possess this kind of weapon, and use this technology to make weapons. There are also countries which are NPT members, and which accepted the NPT [regulations], and they have therefore committed themselves to use this technology for peaceful purposes only. When you commit yourself to using nuclear technology for peaceful purposes only, this includes all the nuclear issues. Let's say tomorrow you build a heavy-water research reactor, OK? This research reactor uses fuel that has the plutonium element as well. We have declared to the world that Iran's nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, and the IAEA can supervise it fully. Now, when we are in the process of building this reactor—the concrete has just been poured and the walls are being installed—the IAEA is present, so of course it will be present when the reactor becomes operational. When it becomes operational the inspectors will definitely be there. Just like they supervise our facilities at Natanz, they will supervise these facilities, so that there will be no deviation in a certain direction.
[…]
You may ask why we pursued a heavy-water research reactor, rather than a light-water reactor. This is a [legitimate] question, which deserves an answer. Since this involves simpler technology, the heavy-water research reactors have slightly simpler technology. In what way are they simpler? Light-water research reactors require fuel that is 20% enriched. Do you follow, Mr. Emami?
Interviewer: Yes.
Mohammad Sa'idi: It requires 20% enriched fuel. Heavy-water research reactors do not require enriched fuel. What you need is not 3.5% [enriched uranium], but UO2, which is produced in the [UCF] facilities at Esfahan. These products are produced at Esfahan, and heavy water is currently produced at Khondab in Arak, so this technology is readily available to us. All we need to do is build the reactor. The fuel is available, and so is the moderator and the cooler, so the reactor can become productive very quickly. Let's say you build a light-water research reactor, OK? As soon as you want to move from 5% to 20%—in other words, to produce enriched fuel—the same countries that are shouting that there is plutonium in heavy-water reactors will shout and say that Iran has moved from 5% to 20% enrichment.
[…]
Interviewer: With regard to Natanz, the 164 centrifuges continue to operate. When will we reach the 3,000 we announced?
Mohammad Sa'idi: We are now carrying out work at the R&D stage. A plan has been drawn up, and we are following it.
Interviewer: When do you think we will reach 3,000 [centrifuges]?
Mohammad Sa'idi: According to the plan.
Interviewer: Thank you. I had other questions… We have done all these activities, so why aren't we building a [nuclear] power plant?
Mohammad Sa'idi: Of course we are. One of the important issues that may arise in the future for our dear people is that in order to complete this technological process in the Islamic Republic of Iran, we have begun designing a power reactor for the production of electricity. When I say “power,” I mean production of electricity. This is a power reactor with a capacity of 360 mega-watt. We are working towards an Iranian-made reactor. Adjacent to the heavy-water reactor that we are building, and which is also Iranian-made, we are planning a light-water power reactor with a capacity of 360 mega-watt, which will serve as a basis for construction of [other] power reactors in the future.
This explains it! /sarc
Heavy water won't hurt you at all, the chemical differences are minute. You could drink a gallon of it and not even burp, which you can't say about Coke.Just make it really heavy and mix in some Tritium…
Would drinking heavy water make your urine heavy?
Inquiring minds want to know. When i visit Hanoi Janes grave I want to carry a heavy load.
Careful...the DU FR monitor might consider that a right wing death threat and call the FBI!
.. which is chemically identical to regular water. I fail to see what that demonstration would prove.
While the difference seems insignificant, I wouldn't go drinking a lot of it daily. D2O has slightly different chemical properties than H2O because of isotope effects. Since water is the major solvent in our bodies and since it is involved in enzymes shuttling protons around, organisms treated with large amounts of D2O have abnormal physiological processes. Rats given only D2O to drink eventually die. It just seems like a Bad Idea to me.
OH NO! They think I'm as stupid as I look. This may be an unrecoverable error.
Note that the article is NOT talkiing about "drinking heavy water" but drinking the "depleted deuterium" water left over from MAKING the heavy water (i.e. regular water without the 0.015% of deuterium normally present). NOT substantially different from what comes out of your tap.
Nonsense. They drink heavy water because they are underweight.
LOL! I guess they mean that the atom gave up its neutron, so its back to a just plain old hydrogen atom, you know, WATER.....
I don't know about that. I suspect if you drank enough D2O that it would screw up a lot of your enzyme kinetics.
"There is no such thing as "depleted deuterium", though. There's "depleted uranium" in which the U235 has been taken out (leaving the remaining U238 depleted in 235). But the same language does not apply to deuterium."
And this is simply wrong. "depleted deuterium" is simply plain old water with the 0.015% of natural deuterium removed--exactly like "depleted uranium" is natural uranium with the U-235 fraction remeoved. The expression is unusual, but not incorrect.
I can wait.
Try Ice-9, that sinks too. I keep a vial of it around my neck.
Do not drink heavy water. It is seriously toxic.
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