The Iranian Energy Commission will study Russian activities at the Bushehr Nuclear Station due to delays in the plant's launch, the Mehr news agency reported today.
"We expect serous results at the Iranian nuclear station by the end of year, but the launch will not take place," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Shmatko told journalists earlier in Moscow.
The station's launch at full capacity has been temporarily postponed. Russian and Iranian experts started trials at the station in February. Officials from both countries said the station will be put into exploitation in 2009. Bushehr will operate on Russian enriched uranium as opposed to fuel produced in Iran.
Iranian parliamentary representatives criticized Russia's decision to postpone the plant's launch, saying they will study the activities of Russian experts at the Bushehr Nuclear Station.
The Iranian-Russian contract for the construction of the Bushehr Nuclear Station was signed in 1995 in Tehran. The contract's total value is $1 billion. The construction was initially to finish by Jan. 8, 1999. Ten years have passed, but the station is still not ready to open. The Russian AtomStroyExport company is building the plant.