Tehran, Iran, June 12
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Iran plans to redesign the Arak heavy water reactor in order to produce less plutonium.
Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, said that the country plants to lower the reactors output to less than one kilogram, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported on June 11.
Arak heavy water reactor currently produces 9-10 kilograms of plutonium.
"Iran has reached an agreement with Russia to construct two more nuclear power plants," Salehi said.
"The two sides are negotiating over the six other planned plants," he explained.
Tehran is reportedly negotiating with Moscow over construction of eight nuclear reactors.
Iran's ISNA News Agency on May 25 quoted an unnamed official as saying that Iran and Russia have agreed on a nuclear protocol for construction of new nuclear reactors.
"If the two sides sign the agreement, Iran will officially be able to construct the new reactors," the source said.
The source went on to note that the two countries have already agreed over construction of two power reactors.
On April 13, Salehi said that the country has a contract with Russia which obligates Moscow to build four other nuclear power plants in the country.
Salehi said that based on a contract which was signed in 1992, Russian are supposed to construct the power plants at the request of Tehran.
He also said that Iran will start construction of its second nuclear plant this year.
"Two years from now we will start the construction operation of the third plant, he explained, adding that the country will continue building the next ones every two years.
"We plan to use local experts in construction of the plants as much as possible," Salehi said.
"Before the Islamic revolution [in 1979] the Americans said that Iran needs to annually produce 20,000 megawatt hours of nuclear electricity. Now we want to reach the goal," he noted.
A high-ranking Iranian nuclear official said in March that Iran will launch the second stage of Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in southern Iran in April.
Asghar Zare'an, deputy Managing Director for Protection and Security at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said that the second stage would be launched on April 9 on the National Nuclear Technology Day, Press TV reported.
He added that on the National Nuclear Technology Day, Iran will also unveil the vaccine separator centrifuge machine.
Earlier this month, Russia's Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation said Tehran and Moscow were negotiating the construction of a second unit at the Bushehr plant.
The initial construction of the Bushehr facility began in 1975 by German companies, but the work was halted following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The 1,000-megawatt plant, which is operating under the full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reached its maximum power generation capacity in August 2012.
In September 2013, Iran officially took over from Russia the first unit of its first 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant.
Edited by CN