Defying U.N., Iran Opens Nuclear Reactor
Pastor Dale Morgan
Aug 26, 10:38 AM EDT
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Defying U.N., Iran Opens Nuclear Reactor*
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer
KHONDAB, Iran (AP) -- Iran's hard-line president on Saturday inaugurated
a heavy-water production plant, a facility the West fears will be used
to develop a nuclear bomb, as Tehran remained defiant ahead of a U.N.
deadline that could lead to sanctions.
The U.N. has called on Tehran to stop the separate process of uranium
enrichment - which also can be used to create nuclear weapons - by
Thursday or face economic and political sanctions.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that his nation's nuclear program
poses no threat to other nations, even Israel, "which is a definite enemy."
Ahmadinejad said in a speech that Iran would never abandon what he once
again called its purely peaceful nuclear program.
"There is no discussion of nuclear weapons," he said. "We are not a
threat to anybody even the Zionist regime, which is a definite enemy for
the people of the region."
Though the West's main worry has been enrichment of uranium that could
be used in a bomb, it also has called on Iran to stop the construction
of a heavy-water reactor near the production plant that Ahmadinejad
inaugurated.
A senior Israeli lawmaker warned in a statement that the plant
inauguration marks "another leap in Iran's advance toward a nuclear bomb."
Israeli legislator Ephraim Sneh of the Labor Party, a partner in the
ruling coalition, said that the Jewish state must "prepare itself
militarily." Ahmadinejad last year called for Israel to be "wiped off
the map."
The spent fuel from a heavy-water reactor can be reprocessed to extract
plutonium for use in a bomb.
Reactors fueled by enriched uranium use regular - or light - water in
the chain reaction that produces energy. Heavy water contains a heavier
hydrogen particle, which allow the reactor to run on natural uranium
mined by Iran, forgoing the enrichment progress.
Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, who also heads the Atomic Energy
Organization of Iran, said the heavy-water facility will be used to
treat and diagnose AIDS and cancer, and for other medicine and
agricultural purposes.
Iran is scheduled to complete the reactor in 2009.
Iran responded Tuesday to package of incentives, presented by the five
permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany, for it to halt
uranium enrichment and return to negotiations on increasing
international oversight of its nuclear program. Tehran said it would be
open to negotiations but did not agree to the West's key demand to halt
enrichment as a precondition to talks.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, will
report on the state of Iran's program by mid-September. If its report
finds that enrichment is continuing, the council could move toward
sanctions.
Tehran has called the Security Council resolution that set the Thursday
deadline "illegal" and has insisted it won't give up its nuclear program.
"They may impose some restrictions on us under pressure. But will they
be able to prevent the thoughts of a nation?" Ahmadinejad said Saturday.
"Will they be able to prevent the progress and technology to a nation?
They have to accept the reality of a powerful, peace-loving and
developed Iran. This is in the interest of all governments and all
nations whether they like it or not."
Mohammed Saeedi, the deputy head of Iran's atomic organization, called
the heavy-water plant "one of the biggest nuclear projects" in the
country, state-run television reported.
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Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran contributed to this report.