Latest news with #Plutonium
LBCI
2 hours ago
- Politics
- LBCI
Israel says it targeted nuclear sites in Iran's Natanz and Arak overnight
The Israeli military said on Thursday it had targeted the Arak nuclear reactor in Iran overnight and struck what it said was a nuclear weapons development site in the area of Natanz. Among its nuclear sites, Iran had a partially built heavy-water research reactor originally called Arak and now Khondab. Iranian media reported on Thursday morning that air defenses were activated in the area of the Khondab nuclear facility, with two projectiles hitting an area close to it. Officials told Iranian state TV that evacuations were made prior to the strikes and that no risks of radiation or casualties were detected. There was no mention of any damage. Natanz, which Israel had previously struck during its six-day-old aerial war with Iran, was the site of a complex at the heart of Iran's nuclear program that included two enrichment plants. The Israeli military added that it targeted the structure of the reactor's core seal in Arak, which it identified as a key component in plutonium production. Khondab hosts a partially-built heavy-water research reactor. Reuters
Arab News
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Israel's military warns people to evacuate the area around Iran's Arak heavy water reactor
DUBAI: Israel's military warned people Thursday to evacuate the area around Iran's Arak heavy water reactor. The warning came in a social media post on X. It included a satellite image of the plant in a red circle like other warnings that proceeded strikes. The Arak heavy water reactor is 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Tehran. Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that can potentially be used in nuclear weapons. That would provide Iran another path to the bomb beyond enriched uranium, should it choose to pursue the weapon. Iran had agreed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to redesign the facility to relieve proliferation concerns. In 2019, Iran started up the heavy water reactor's secondary circuit, which at the time did not violate Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Britain at the time was helping Iran redesign the Arak reactor to limit the amount of plutonium it produces, stepping in for the US, which had withdrawn from the project after President Donald Trump's decision in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw America from the nuclear deal. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, has been urging Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites. IAEA inspectors reportedly last visited Arak on May 14. Due to restrictions Iran imposed on inspectors, the IAEA has said it lost 'continuity of knowledge' about Iran's heavy water production — meaning it could not absolutely verify Tehran's production and stockpile.
