TEHRAN – The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced on Sunday that it has prepared a draft on modernization of the Arak heavy water reactor, now under consideration by China.

Behrooz Kamalvandi, the AEOI spokesman, said the document has been drafted on the basis of modernization negotiations between Iran, China, and the other countries which signed the nuclear deal. 
“We are in talks over which part the Chinese side will take on in collaboration with the other countries and which part the Iranian side will,” Kamalvandi explained.
Tehran and Beijing had started brainstorming sessions on the re-designing of the Arak reactor under the terms of the nuclear deal Tehran and the 5+1 group of countries forged in July 2015. 
The technical meetings were a follow-up to the talks held between Iranian and Chinese expert panels in Beijing previously.
Iran and China signed an agreement on the modernization project during the visit to Tehran of Chinese President Xi Jinping in January. 
Under the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran will redesign and rebuild a modernized heavy water research reactor in Arak, based on an agreed conceptual design, using fuel enriched up to 3.67 %, in a form of an international partnership which will certify the final design.
The modernization will aim to support peaceful nuclear
research and radioisotopes production for medical and industrial purposes. 

AK/PA