Russian contractor calls Bushehr NPP's safety "Top Priority"

The Russian contractor in charge of the construction of Iran's first nuclear power plant in Bushehr said that ensuring the full safety of the plant before its official launch has been a priority for the contractor, Fars reported.

"Since safety is the first priority for the Russian builder of Bushehr nuclear power plant, it will not complete the construction hastily," Acting president of Atomstroyexport Valery Limarenko.

However, Limarenko, announced that the preparatory actions for full use of the plant have already been taken.

In May, Iran said it would soon set a date for the official launch of Bushehr nuclear power plant at maximum power capacity.

In relevant remarks late in May, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Fereidoun Abbasi announced that Iran's first nuclear power plant will reach its full power generation capacity late autumn.

"Bushehr (nuclear) power plant will reach its maximum capacity in (the Iranian) month of Azar (November 21 to December 20)," Abbasi said in Tehran.

He added that the Russian contractor in charge of the construction of the power plant will also deliver full control of the facility to Iranian experts in the same month.

The power plant's utmost power for the generation of electricity is 1,000mw.

Iran signed a deal with Russia in 1995, according to which the plant was originally scheduled for completion in 1999. However, the project was repeatedly delayed by the Russian side due to the intense pressure exerted on Moscow by the United States and its western allies.

Russia finally completed physical construction of the plant last summer, but the facility still needed one more year to gradually reach full power generation capacity.

On October 26, 2010, Iran started injecting fuel into the core of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in the initial phase of launching the nuclear reactor.

In 2011 Iran started using 500MW of nuclear-generated electricity, half the nominal capacity of the Bushehr power plant.

Iran held a ceremony in September to mark the preliminary launch of the Bushehr plant. The facility operates under the full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).


Edited by: S. Isayev