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Bushehr N-plant under repair for technical malfunction: Iran ambassador

Iran Press TV

Tue Jun 11, 2013 1:34PM GMT

Iran ambassador to Russia says the main generator of the country's Russian-built nuclear power plant in Bushehr is under repair due to a technical malfunction.

"In close cooperation, our and Russian specialists are undertaking efforts to fix the malfunction," Itar-TASS quoted Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi as saying on Monday.

Sajjadi, however, stressed that the flaw was not caused by a recent earthquake in southern Iran, noting that the glitch "was linked to the work of the generator."

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates recently expressed concern over what they called the reactor's vulnerability to earthquakes. But Tehran ruled out the hypothesis and condemned the allegations as "unfounded."

"The propaganda by certain countries regarding concerns over the safety of this power plant is baseless," Iran Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Sunday.

Bushehr nuclear power plant officially began its operations in September 2011, generating electricity at 40 percent of its capacity. It took the 1,000-megawatt plant, which is operating under the full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), almost a year to reach its maximum power generation capacity.

On April 9, an earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale struck the town of Kaki, some 90 kilometers southeast of Bushehr, at a depth of 12 kilometers.

However, the nuclear facility, which is located 18 kilometers south of Bushehr and about 160 kilometers away from the quake-stricken region, remained intact.

Iran and Russia have assured the international community that the plant is fully compliant with high-level safety standards and IAEA safeguards.

Officials at Russia's Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, a major contractor in charge of the Bushehr plant project, say the power plant has been constructed to withstand tremors as strong as nine degrees on the Richter scale.

MRS/KA/SS