Iran to scale down its production of plutonium

Iran will reduce its annual production of plutonium at the Arak reactor to 10 per cent of its current production as part of measures to increase trust in the country’s nuclear programme, a senior official said yesterday.

The Iranian news channel Press TV quoted President of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi as saying: “The amount of plutonium produced from the Arak reactor will be reduced from about 9-10 kilogrammes per year to less than one kilogramme.

“We are currently busy redesigning that reactor to arrange for that alteration.”

The West has demanded the closure of the Arak reactor because of fears related to the possibility of its use in the production of plutonium needed for the manufacture of nuclear weapons.