Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 7 / Trend S.Isayev/
The Bushehr nuclear power plant will become 100 percent operational sometime next month, Head of Iran Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) Fereydoun Abbasi said, IRNA reported.
Earlier it was reported that the plant is currently operating at 40-50 percent of its nominal capacity, but is expected to reach full capacity in early February concurrent with the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
The Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant was officially launched on September 12 and started by generating electricity at 40 percent of its capacity. The 1,000-megawatt plant, located southeast of the city of Bushehr along the Persian Gulf, had been already connected to the country's national power grid with the power of 60 MW on September 3, 2011.
It reached the capacity of 190 MW on September 27, and a day later it improved its capacity to 300 MW. The plant gained 50 percent of its nominal power on October 7 as it reached the capacity of 420 MW.
Initial construction of the facility began in 1975 by German companies, but the work was stopped following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
In 1995, Iran and Russia reached an agreement to complete the project. But power generation was delayed several times due to a number of technical and financial problems.