November 18, 2016
China wants to charge Iran too much for redesigning the heavy water reactor at Arak, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said last Wednesday.
However, Behruz Kamal-vandi said drafting of the contract for the redesign project between Iran and China is in its final stages.
Talks with China over the redesign have been going well, and the only problem is the price, which Tehran is going to resolve through more talks, he said.
Kamalvandi did not say what China was asking or what Iran was willing to pay.
The redesign of the reactor is a requirement of the nuclear agreement with the Big Six. As designed by Iran, the Arak reactor could produce a lot of plutonium, an alternative to uranium for use in an atomic bomb.
The redesign is meant to limit the amount of plutonium that can come from the Arak plant.
China was designated to lead the re-design with the United States having the authority to watch over the work.