Russia, Iran to continue nuclear cooperation
By Sara Rajabova
Tehran and Moscow announced that they will continue nuclear cooperation in coming years.
The two sides signed a preliminary agreement to build at least two more nuclear power plants in the Iranian port city of Bushehr in south of the country.
The spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Behrouz Kamalvandi, said the two sides reached the agreement after lengthy talks between AEOI officials and Nikolai Spassky, Russia's Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, in Tehran.
He said the agreement is part of a 1992 deal between the two countries on further nuclear cooperation.
Kamalvandi noted that under the agreement, the new facilities will be built next to the first unit of the Bushehr nuclear plant and each will have a capacity to produce at least 1,000 megawatts of electricity.
He added that the agreement also includes the construction of two desalination units.
Besides, Kamalvandi said the agreement needs to be signed by AEOI Head Ali Akbar Salehi and Rosatom's Director General Sergei Kiriyenko.
He further said the two sides will also soon discuss technical and commercial terms of the agreement.
Last week, Deputy Director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Ahmadian and Rosatom's Director General Kiriyenko sat down for talks in Moscow.
The sides expressed satisfaction with the progress and launching of the first unit of Iran's nuclear power plant in Bushehr and highlighted the necessity of continuing bilateral cooperation in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy.
After signing a deal on the construction of nuclear plants in 1992, Tehran and Moscow reached an agreement in 1995 to complete Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, but the project was delayed several times due to a number of technical and financial problems.
Iran officially took over the first unit of the plant from Russia for two years in September2013, the final acceptance and submission for industrial operation is scheduled for 2015.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.