US buys Iranian reactor water under nuke deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is buying 32 metric tons of Iranian heavy water, a key component for one kind of nuclear reactor, to help Iran meet the terms of last year's landmark nuclear deal under which it agreed to curb its atomic program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.

The State and Energy departments said a sales agreement would be signed Friday in Vienna by officials from the six countries that negotiated the nuclear deal. The agreement calls for the Energy Department's Isotope Program to purchase the heavy water from a subsidiary of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, for about $8.6 million, officials said. They said the heavy water will be stored at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and then resold on the commercial market for research purposes.