Iran, Russia reach initial deal on 2 more N-plants

Iran and Russia have reached a preliminary agreement to build at least two more nuclear power plants in the Iranian port city of Bushehr in south of the country.

The spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Behrouz Kamalvandi, said Wednesday that the two sides reached the agreement after negotiations between AEOI officials and Nikolai Spassky, Russia’s Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, in Tehran.

He said that the agreement is part of a 1992 deal between the two countries on further nuclear cooperation.

Under the agreement, the new facilities will be built next to the first unit of the Bushehr nuclear plant and each will have a capacity to produce at least 1,000 megawatts of electricity, Kamalvandi said, adding that the agreement also includes the construction of two desalination units.

He said that the agreement needs to be signed by AEOI Head Ali Akbar Salehi and Rosatom’s Director General Sergei Kiriyenko.

According to Kamalvandi, the two sides will also soon discuss technical and commercial terms of the agreement.

After signing a deal on the construction of nuclear plants in 1992, Tehran and Moscow reached an agreement in 1995 to complete Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, but the project was delayed several times due to a number of technical and financial problems.

The plant became officially operational and was connected to Iran’s national grid in September 2011, generating electricity at 40-percent capacity.

The 1,000-megawatt plant, which is operating under the full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reached its maximum power generation capacity in August 2012.

In September 2013, Iran officially took over from Russia the first unit of its first 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant for two years.