Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept.12 / Trend /
The launch of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant is a historic event and symbolizes the Iranian-Russian cooperation, Press TV television channel quotes the Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko as saying at a ceremony of launching the Bushehr plant.
"This is a historic event. I want to thank all those who participated in implementation of this project, who also includes Russian engineers and Iranian nuclear scientists," Shmatko said. "This project is a real symbol of the Iranian-Russian cooperation," he added.
Minister said that Russia is proud of the construction project of the Bushehr plant. It is interested in cooperating with Iran in oil and gas sphere.
"I assure you that we will continue our cooperation with Iran to launch the Bushehr nuclear power plant and develop other projects on Iran's nuclear energy," Russian minister said.
Shmatko said that launching the Bushehr nuclear power plant means Iran's joining the nuclear club.
A pre-launch ceremony of the Bushehr nuclear power plant (NPP) kicked off officially in Iran on Monday.
Iran's FM Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization Feredoun Abbasi- Davani, Energy Minister Majid Namjou, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko and the head of Russia's Nuclear Energy Agency Sergei Kiriyenko attends the ceremony held for pre-launch of Bushehr nuclear power plant.
Bushehr NPP has been connected to Iran's electricity network on Sept. 4 and has supplied about 60 megawatt of electricity to the country's electric network since its connection to the grid.
The final production capacity of Bushehr NPP is 1000 megawatt electricity.
Salehi announced Sunday that now the reactor operates at 35-40 percent of its capacity, but it is expected that it will be able to operate at full capacity in two-three months. The plant will soon be disconnected from the grid for the inspection of the equipment and additional testing, he added. After testing the reactor will be speeded up again and put into the operation at the maximum capacity.
Bushehr is the first nuclear power plant in Iran and throughout the Middle East. The plant began to be built by the German Kraftwerk Union in 1974. In 1980 the contract was terminated during the Western German government's accession to the U.S. embargo on supplying equipment to Iran.