IAEA questions Iran after finding undeclared heavy water

After its three-day inspection of the underground site, the International Atomic Energy Agency has pressed Iran to declare in writing that it has no other hidden nuclear facilities, according to a copy of the report made public Monday by the Ploughshares-funded Institute for Science and International Security. The U.N. nuclear watchdog also asked Iranian officials for original blueprints for the processing facility, as well as access to engineers to verify claims that it was intended to be part of a peaceful nuclear energy program. Further underscoring concerns about continued concealment, the report said U.N. inspectors had found 600 barrels of a substance known as heavy water -- used in some types of nuclear reactors -- at facility near the town of Esfahan. The heavy water was not produced by Iran, and the report suggests that it was imported secretly, said David Albright, a former IAEA inspector and president of ISIS. The discovery "again raises questions whether Iran has declared all its nuclear facilities and materials," he said.