‘Islamic Iran Bushehr plant fully operational by 2012’

Head of Iran Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) says Bushehr nuclear power plant will become fully operational in February 2012 after some technical problems are resolved.

Addressing a meeting of Principlist lawmakers on Wednesday, Fereydoun Abbasi dismissed rumors about the Russians intentionally delaying the final commissioning of the power plant, Mehr News Agency reported.

“I have not sensed any such thing in the eight months that I have been managing [the IAEO], and the Russians are fully cooperating to launch the Bushehr plant,” he added.

The official noted that it is common throughout the world to do frequent tests before launching a nuclear power plant and the Bushehr plant had to be likewise tested to avoid any future complications.

Iran officially launched Bushehr nuclear power plant on Monday, September 12, 2011, which began generating electricity at 40 percent of its capacity.

The 1,000-megawatt plant had been already connected to the country’s national power grid with the power of 60 MW on September 3. It reached the capacity of 190 MW on September 27, and a day later it improved its capacity to 300 MW. The plant gained 50 percent of its nominal power on October 7 as it reached the capacity of 420 MW.

The nuclear power plant is located southeast of the city of Bushehr.

Initial construction of the facility began in 1975 by German companies, but the work was stopped following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In 1995, Iran and Russia reached an agreement to complete the project but power generation was delayed several times due to a number of technical and financial problems.