Alwaght- Iran exports 32 metric tons of its nuclear program heavy water to an American company under the nuclear deal struck between the country and Eu3+3 last year.
Formed with a hydrogen isotope, but not being radioactive, Tehran's $8.6 million worth heavy water is expected to be delivered to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran within weeks.
“We have entered the international market of nuclear materials. We have purchased 140 tons of yellow cake from Russia as well as 60 more tons from Kazakhstan,” Abbas Araqchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, told a forum at the country’s Foreign Ministry.
“We have also sold about 10 tons of 3.5 percent enriched uranium to Russia. In fact, we have entered the international market of nuclear materials as an exporter.”
"Six tons of the exported heavy water will be used in nuclear facilities and the rest in American research centers," Ali Asghar Zarean, a deputy head of the IAEO, had been quoted by the media as saying.
The US officials claim the purchase aims to pave the way for other international customers to buy the material from Tehran.
"That will be a statement to the world: ‘You want to buy heavy water from Iran, you can buy heavy water from Iran. It’s been done. Even the United States did it,'" US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Araqchi estimated Iran has about 70 tons in excess of what it needs and said further sales are being negotiated with another company that is not based in the United States.
