Iran could begin producing weapons-grade plutonium by next summer, using a different nuclear technology that would be easier for foreign countries to attack, the Wall Street Journal reports.
According to U.S. and European officials, the path to a weapon through development of a heavy water nuclear reactor could hurt international negotiation efforts with new Iranian president Hasan Rouhani. It also increases the possibility of an Israeli strike:
Until now, U.S. and Western governments had been focused primarily on Iran's vast program to enrich uranium, one path to creating the fissile materials needed for nuclear weapons. Now, the West is increasingly concerned Iran also could use the development of a heavy water nuclear reactor to produce plutonium for a bomb. A heavy-water reactor is an easier target to hit than the underground facilities that house Iran's uranium-enrichment facilities.
Some Iranians and foreign diplomats hope that Mr. Rouhani, a former top nuclear negotiator, will try to negotiate an end to the sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy. After being sworn in, Mr. Rouhani called on the West to drop the sanctions. "If you seek a suitable answer, speak to Iran through the language of respect, not through the language of sanctions," he said.
In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Mr. Rouhani's inauguration represented "an opportunity for Iran to act quickly to resolve the international community's deep concerns over Iran's nuclear program." "Should this new government choose to engage substantively and seriously to meet its international obligations and find a peaceful solution to this issue, it will find a willing partner in the United States," Mr. Carney said.
In recent months, the Tehran regime has made advances on construction of a heavy water reactor in the northwestern city of Arak:
A reactor like the one under construction is capable of using the uranium fuel to produce 40 megawatts of power. Spent fuel from it contains plutonium—which, like enriched uranium, can serve as the raw material for an explosive device. India and Pakistan have built plutonium-based bombs, as has North Korea.
The Arak facility, when completed, will be capable of producing two nuclear bombs' worth of plutonium a year, said U.S. and U.N. officials.
Iran denied it is seeking development of nuclear weapons, telling the International Atomic Energy Agency that the Arak facility is for producing isotopes used in medical treatments.