Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Iran and Russia are in talks over the construction of new nuclear power plants (NPPs) in Iran.

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar recently said Tehran is negotiating the construction of four NPPs with Moscow, Press TV reported.

Iranian and Russian Foreign Ministers discussed the possible construction of new NPPs during Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's visit to Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran and Russia are close to signing an agreement to build more NPPs in Iran. In the meantime, Lavrov said Russia is interested in cooperation with Iran in the sphere of peaceful nuclear energy and building NPPs similar to the Bushehr plant, which works with light water power reactors.

Salehi added that Bushehr NPP would be temporarily shut down in order to change the fuel rods at the core of the facility.

Iran officially took over the first unit of the plant from Russia for two years in September. The Bushehr NPP became officially operational and connected to Iran's national grid in September 2011.

Construction of the NPP in Bushehr started in 1974 by the German Kraftwerk Union AG (Siemens / KWU), but came to a start during the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.

In August 1992, an agreement was signed between the Governments of Russia and Iran on the construction of a NPP, and in January 1995 a contract was signed to complete the construction of the first power unit of the plant.

Salehi further noted that Iran has produced two types of second-generation centrifuges, the capacities of which are two times that of the first-generation model.

He added that despite installing 1,000 second-generation centrifuges, Iran has not injected gas into them because of the negotiations and the Geneva agreement.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany sealed an interim deal in Geneva on November 24, under which the six countries undertook to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, such as not operating any additional centrifuges, for six months.

However, under the agreement Iran can continue to develop centrifuges and carry out related research.