Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Bushehr's electricity to be sent to national power grid next year

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Dec 17, IRNA
Iran-Nuclear-Bushehr
The electricity to be generated by Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran will be sent to the power grid next year, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Reza Aqazadeh said on Monday.

95 percent of construction work on the project have been completed, Aqazadeh told reporters.

Bushehr nuclear power plant is the first Iranian nuclear power plant being constructed with the assistance of Russia's Atomstroiexport corporation.

The 1,000-megawatt station was to become operational last September. But the start-up has been delayed and the project remains under construction due to a dispute between Russian contractors and Iran over the terms of payment.

Russia sent first shipment of nuclear fuel to Iran on Monday.

The delivery process will take up to two months to complete, Atomostroiexport said.

A total of 163 main and 17 reserve assemblies of U-235 enriched to 3.62 percent would be delivered for the first loading, the company added.

Bushehr nuclear power plant is to start generating electricity approximately six months after the first delivery of fuel.

Russian Foreign Ministry stressed in a statement that the deliveries were being made under control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and that the spent fuel from Bushehr would be "returned to Russia for reprocessing and storage."
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