The Obama administration will purchase 32 tons of nuclear material from Iran on Friday.
The deal for Iran’s “heavy water,” expected to be signed by officials Friday morning in Vienna, is worth $8.6 million. The State Department delegation is meeting with Iran and the six other world powers as part of last summer’s historic nuclear deal.
The heavy water, according to the Wall Street Journal, could be used in a reactor to produce material for nuclear weapons. The nuclear deal mandates that Iran’s heavy water load must be below 130 tons during the initial years of the deal, and under 90 tons later.
Heavy water includes a higher percentage of a certain hydrogen isotope, and is used to moderate nuclear reactors.
“This heavy water will fulfill a substantial portion of U.S. domestic demand this year for industry and domestic research applications. This material is not radioactive and does not present safety concerns,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told Fox News in confirmation of the deal.
Secretary of State John Kerry is set to meet with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif in New York City Friday afternoon.
“The idea is: Okay, we tested it, it’s perfectly good heavy water. It meets spec. We’ll buy a little of this,” U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told The Journal. “That will be a statement to the world: ‘You want to buy heavy water from Iran, you can buy heavy water from Iran. It’s been done. Even the United States did it.'”
The water will be sent to a laboratory in Tennessee where it will be used in research.
