Iran to take Bushehr NPP under full control soon
By Sara Rajabova
Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant head Hossein Derakhshandeh announced that Iranian experts will take full control of the plant from Russians within the next two months, Press TV reported.
Derakhshandeh said the Bushehr atomic power plant has entered the operational phase for safe and sustainable generation of electricity.
He added that the plant will enter industrial operation phase within the next two months, when Iranian technicians assume responsibility for the facility.
Recently, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said accomplishment work is running its normal course at Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and that after all the tests are carried out and when the country is assured of the proper functioning of the equipment, the Russian contractor will then hand over the power plant to the Iranian side as scheduled.
Also, Russian Ambassador to Iran Levan Dzhagaryan has said earlier that Moscow is ready to expand its nuclear cooperation with Tehran even after Iran takes full control of the Russian-built Bushehr plant.
He said that Russia is prepared to offer Iran further assistance on the use of peaceful nuclear energy following the handover of the nuclear facility to the Iranian side.
Dzhagaryan noted that a risk-free startup of the first phase of the Bushehr power plant is Moscow's foremost priority.
Rosatom's construction arm, Atomstroyeksport, took over construction of the Bushehr plant after a German company pulled out of the project after the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.
Iran signed the Bushehr contract with Russia in 1995 and the nuclear power plant reached its full capacity by August 2012.
Bushehr nuclear power plant officially became operational in September 2011, generating electricity at 40 percent of its capacity.
The 1,000-megawatt plant, which is operating under the full supervision of the IAEA, reached its maximum power generation capacity in August 2012.
Iran and Russia have assured the international community that the plant is fully compliant with high-level safety standards and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.
The U.S. and some of its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon -- something that Iran denies. However, Iran has on numerous occasions stated that it is not seeking to develop nuclear weapons, using nuclear energy for medical researches instead.