Europeans Interested in Purchasing Heavy Water

Spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Behrouz Kamalvandi announced that new customers, other than the US and Russia, have shown interest in purchasing the high-quality Iranian heavy water.

"We have made good progress in the area of heavy water and we have sold 70 tons of heavy water in seven months. Given the capacity of our production, I think that we can sell 20 tons of heavy water in the world markets annually," Kamalvandi said in an interview with Arabic-language Al-Alam news network on Monday, Fars News Agency reported.

Noting that Iran's high-quality heavy water has serious customers, he said, "I think we can sign new contracts in addition to what we sold to the US and Russia; and the new customers are mostly Europeans."

The AEOI spokesman said in October that American scientists were surprised by the high purity of Iran's heavy water supply sold to the US after the nuclear deal and they hailed their Iranian counterparts.

"After testing Iran's heavy water, the Americans congratulated us for its high purity and at present, they are selling Iran's heavy water in pharmaceutical and research markets," he said.

Asked about the price of 32 tons of heavy water sold to the US in July, he said Iran has received $290 per kilogram, adding that the Russians have also purchased Iran's heavy water at the same price.

Kamalvandi said Iran could retail its heavy water at the market for much higher prices, but it did not.

"We didn't enter the retail market, since it has its own complications and the costs of marketing and packaging are high," he said.

Since the implementation of last year's nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers, Iran has turned into an exporter of heavy water to foreign states.

Iran delivered 38 tons of heavy water to Russia in September.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of AEOI, announced in May that several European states had shown interest in purchasing heavy water supplies from Iran, adding that the modern heavy water reactor in Arak would be launched in five years.