Count on a swift and SEVERE reaction by the US, possibly some of our allies too.
If we don't do it, Israel might nuke 'em.
Jimmah Carter's fierce bad rabbit. /obscure
Iran has gone a long way in building a 40-megawatt heavy water nuclear reactor in Arak, central Iran, which the US fears could be used to produce plutonium and build nuclear weapons.
EXCERPT: Although the Agency has no concrete information, other than that addressed through the work plan, about possible current undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, the Agency is not in a position to provide credible assurances about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran without full implementation of the Additional Protocol. This is especially important in the light of Iran’s undeclared activities for almost two decades and the need to restore confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear programme. Therefore, the Director General again urges Iran to implement the Additional Protocol at the earliest possible date. The Director General also urges Iran to implement all the confidence building measures required by the Security Council, including the suspension of all enrichment related activities.
Light water reactors are used for power generation; this is what Bubba/Jammah authorized/built for the KorComs back in the 90’s.
The KorComs immediately, surreptitiously, began converting it to a heavy water reactor with ChiComm guidance and help.
Heavy water reactors are used to produce nuclear weaponry.
Case closed.
Ahmadinejad, your “pellets” are no good.
A 40 MW reactor is too tiny for any real electricity production and the use of D2O as a moderator allows the fuel to have a lower enrichment than is needed for a H2O moderated reactor (and in some cases no enrichment is needed). I’d be curious about the design of the reactor. If it is set up for rapid defueling/refueling (perhaps even while online) then it would be an excellent plutonium production reactor. When you produce plutonium you build up the levels of plutonium in your fuel assemblies to an equilibrium so you need to cycle out your fuel assemblies often to maximize the amount of plutonium that you can produce for a given amount of fuel and time. The fact that Iran is using D2O moderated reactors is very troubling.