Sunday, Aug 27, 2006
KHONDAB, Iran (AP)--A heavy-water production plant officially went into operation Saturday despite U.N. demands that Iran stop the activity, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes but Western countries fear could eventually be used to develop a nuclear bomb.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the heavy-water plant - the first time an Iranian president has officially visited the site.
The announcement comes days before Thursday's U.N. deadline for Iran to stop uranium enrichment - which also can be used to create nuclear weapons - or face economic and political sanctions. Tehran has called the U.N. Security Council resolution "illegal" and said it won't stop enrichment as a precondition to negotiations.
Iran has been a building a heavy-water reactor near the plant for two years, but the reactor is not scheduled for completion until 2009.
The heavy-water plant's top official, Manouchehr Madadi, said the facility now has the ability to produce up to 16 tons of heavy water a year.
Mohammed Saeedi, the deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the facility is "one of the biggest nuclear projects" in the country, state-run television reported. He said the facility will be used in the pharmaceutical field and in diagnosing cancer.
The West's main worry has been uranium enrichment. Iran on Tuesday responded to an incentives package presented by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany aimed at getting Tehran to roll back its disputed nuclear program.
Iran said it would be open to negotiations but did not agree to the West's key demand for Tehran to halt uranium enrichment as a precondition to talks.
Corrected Aug. 27, 2006 12:30 ET (1630 GMT)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 26, 2006 04:19 ET (08:19 GMT)
Copyright Dow Jones Newswires 2006
