The United States House of Representatives voted Wednesday to bar the U.S. government from future purchases of heavy water from Iran’s regime, undercutting the controversial nuclear pact with Tehran.
Wednesday night’s 251-168 vote came on an amendment by Florida Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis to a funding bill for the Energy Department.
Last month, the Obama administration completed an $8.6 million deal to buy 32 tons of heavy water from the Iranian regime. The amendment wouldn’t affect that deal but would thwart purchases next year. Nonetheless, the White House has weighed in strongly with a veto promise that may get the proposal removed during House-Senate negotiations, The Associated Press reported.
Heavy water, formed with a hydrogen isotope, is a key component for one kind of nuclear reactor. It is not radioactive but it can be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium. Under the nuclear deal, Iran’s regime is allowed to use heavy water in its modified Arak nuclear reactor, but must sell any excess supply of both heavy water and enriched uranium on the international market.
There are no current plans for further U.S. purchases of heavy water. The pending deal calls for the Energy Department’s Isotope Program to purchase the heavy water from a subsidiary of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. The heavy water will be stored at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and then resold on the commercial market for research purposes.