China: Document of redesigning Arak power plant to be inked on Sunday

Talking to reporters, he said that the document is considered the first deal for redesigning the power plant which is to be signed by the parties.

He further noted that Chinese and Iranian officials have already reached an initial agreement to sign the trade accord.

Lu said China and the US were joint heads of the working group on the Arak project, adding that smooth progress had been made on the plan.

'The signing of this contract will create good conditions for substantively starting the redesign project,” he said.

The 40-megawatt Arak reactor is intended to produce isotopes for cancer and other medical treatments. Iran is redesigning the planned research reactor to sharply cut its potential output of plutonium.

Iran has removed the sensitive core of the reactor and UN inspectors have visited the site to verify the move, which is crucial to the implementation of the JCPOA.

Iran and the Group 5+1 countries (the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany) signed the JCPOA on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.

Under the agreement, limits were put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all nuclear-related bans against the Islamic Republic.

The UN Security Council later unanimously endorsed a resolution that effectively turned the JCPOA into international law.

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