VIENNA — Iran announced Saturday it had reached another milestone in its nuclear program, appearing eager to create an air of inevitability to its acquisition of atomic technology in the face of a U.N. deadline this week to temporarily halt its uranium enrichment operations.
In choosing to inaugurate a heavy-water production plant just days before the threat of censure from world powers, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad signaled that the Islamic Republic would not be cowed. Yet he took pains to suggest that the plant's launch was a development that the world should regard as peaceful. And he emphasized that even Israel, which he has said should be wiped off the face of the Earth, should not be fearful of Iran.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday August 31, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 53 words Type of Material: Correction
Heavy water: An article about Iran's nuclear program in Sunday's Section A said a new heavy water plant would produce fuel for a nuclear reactor. Heavy water, which the new plant will produce, is "used as a moderating and cooling substance" in certain types of reactors, as was noted elsewhere in the article.
"We are not a threat to anybody -- even the Zionist regime, which is a definite enemy for the people of the region," he said at the plant, about 150 miles southwest of Tehran.
Western countries believe Iran wants nuclear technology so it can gain weapons capability and increase its already considerable leverage in the region.
Heavy-water plants are "dual use," suitable for civilian projects such as generating electricity but also adaptable to military purposes.
The plant will produce the fuel for an adjacent heavy-water nuclear reactor scheduled for completion by 2009, according to a nuclear expert close to the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
An operational reactor would put Iran among fewer than a dozen countries with heavywater technology. Among the other countries are the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- and Canada, India and Norway.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies in London estimated that the heavy-water reactor, once up and running, would need a year to produce enough plutonium for a single "simple implosion weapon."
This week is one of intense nuclear politics for Tehran. The Security Council has ordered Iran to suspend uranium enrichment by Thursday and to respond to IAEA questions.
Iran has sent clear signals that it will refuse to meet the Security Council demands.
Last week, Iran responded ambiguously to an offer from world powers of economic and technological incentives, including civilian nuclear technology, if it suspended uranium enrichment, which it began on a small scale in April.
