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Iran, Russia to complete first unit of Bushehr nuclear power plant

IRNA

Moscow, June 4, IRNA -- Iran and Russia are to come to an agreement   
shortly to complete the first unit of the Bushehr nuclear-fueled power
station, said a source at the Russian Ministry of Energy.
    The source who asked not to be identified told Interfax news      
agency that Gholamreza Aqazadeh, head of the Iranian Atomic Energy    
Organization, is to visit Moscow in the second half of next month to  
finalize documents on the completion of the Bushehr plant's first     
 unit.
    The same source said the Iran-Russia cooperation is now supervised
 the international Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts.  
    The inspections by the IAEA inspectors show that the Iran-Russia  
cooperation is in keeping with the international documents on nuke    
activities.        
    The Iran-Russia cooperation in the nuclear domain is based on the 
internationally accepted laws and regulations while adding that the   
sides are committed to the clauses of the non-proliferation treaty    
(NPT), the source said .        
    The Russian Nuclear Ministry said in exceed of 60 times the       
 Bushehr power plan has been visited by the IAEA inspectors in 2002   
and no violation was witnessed by them.     
    Iran and Russia have repeatedly reaffirmed their will to continue 
the bilateral nuclear cooperation despite the US pressure on Russia to
stop nuke works in Iran.        
    Reportedly technicians work full steam at a site near the southern
port city of Bushehr to catch up with a tight schedule to bring Iran's
first nuclear energy plant into operation.  
    Main gadgets have been ferried from Russia to a barren coast, a   
stone's throw away from the Persian Gulf. They have been assembled and
installed, but the system needs one key component to go into motion:  
nuclear fuel.      
    The construction of the Bushehr plant started in 1975 by Germany's
Siemens, but the company pulled out of the contract following the     
Islamic Revolution in 1979. Russia resumed building the plant in 1995 
after clinching an 800-million-dollar deal with the Islamic Republic. 
    At present, more than 1,100 Russian experts and 3,000 Iranians    
work on the Bushehr plant, some 750 Iranian experts will operate it   
once it comes on stream.        
HB/JB 
End