Images Show Iran Heavy-Water Plant Nearly Done-ISIS

[Rose Siding]

VIENNA (Reuters) - New satellite images show a heavy water plant in Iran, intended to supply a research reactor that could eventually produce plutonium for one atomic bomb a year, is nearly complete, a U.S. think-tank said on Friday.

The photos of the plant in Arak, 150 miles south of Tehran, were taken in February by the U.S. commercial satellite firms DigitalGlobe and Space Imaging and provided to Reuters by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a U.S. think-tank.

"Adjacent to the reactor construction site (in Arak) is the heavy water production plant, which is almost completed and is anticipated to supply the necessary heavy water for the heavy water reactor," ISIS said in an analysis of the imagery.

While there is nothing illegal about the plant, the news that it is nearly done will likely deepen U.S. suspicions that Iran wants heavy-water technology to get plutonium for bombs.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/03/04/images_show_iran_heavy_water_plant_nearly_done_isis/