Iran's Sixteen Reactors

Iran's Sixteen Reactors Ordinarily it would be big energy news if one of the world’s larger emerging market economies were to announce plans to build 16 nuclear reactors, representing a substantial fraction of such undertakings. Sixty nuclear power plants are under construction worldwide, and about 160 are planned. But here’s the rub: The country that announced last week that it would build 16 new reactors is Iran. Given the long-standing impasse over Iran’s uranium enrichment program and well-founded suspicions that Iran's leadership wishes to attain a “breakout” capacity to build nuclear weapons, the reactor plan could be nothing but a cover for a covert military program. In principle, the so-called P5+1 talks with Iran that resumed yesterday could cast light on that issue and ultimately legitimize Iran’s nuclear energy program. But are there any real prospects of the talks succeeding? Read morehttp://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/nuclear/sixteen-new-iranian-reactors