The heavy water plant will be used to feed a neighboring nuclear research reactor which is under construction. The research reactor is going to be completed in 2009. It could produce plutonium at the appointed time.

    The chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, and his deputy, Mohammad Saeedi, was accompanying the president to the inauguration ceremony.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gestures during (C) the inauguration of the Arak heavy-water project 190 km (120 miles) southwest of Tehran August 26, 2006. Iran 's president launched a new phase in the Arak heavy-water reactor project on Saturday, despite Western fears it is aimed at producing a bomb. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

An view of a heavy-water production plant, which went into operation despite U.N. demands that Iran roll back its nuclear program, in the central Iranian town of Arak, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2006. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery >>>