Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Russia: Bushehr power plant to be completed on time

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Moscow, Nov 28, IRNA -- Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko on the eve of his visit to Tehran here on Friday in a press conference said that Bushehr power plant will be completed on the set timeframe agreed with the Iranian side.

He said there is no problem on completing the power plant and work is on progress on schedule.

Shmatko added the hydraulic tests for readiness of the power plant will be done in the upcoming days and testing other equipment has started.

He said that fuel for power plant has been delivered completely to Iran and needed equipment has been assembled and installed and tests on systems are being done successfully in the power plant.

Shmatko added final date for completing Bushehr power plant had been determined with Iranian side and there is no problem on the way of commissioning and technical issues of the power plant.

Concerning reasons of delay of completion of the power plant, Shmatko said that a number of technical problems and using some German equipment along with Russian equipment were the sole reason of the problem, but systems are being tested now.

He went on to say, "We have special relations with Iran and Bushehr project will be a motive for bilateral cooperation in other fields to continue successfully."

The Russian senior official called mutual cooperation in the energy field good, adding that both countries have good cooperation in the Caspian Sea, too.

He also said cooperation in the fields of oil and gas and other fields of energy are among issues to be discussed in the joint economics commission.

Commercial exchanges level between Iran and Russia is currently more than 3.5 billion dollars annually.

Joint economic commission will start its two-day meeting on 29 November, 2009 here in Tehran.

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End News / IRNA / News Code 813905