Technical events to be held at Bushehr nuclear plant

Several technical events will be held at the Bushehr nuclear power plant that will make the physical launch of the nuclear power plant irreversible, Atomstroiexport head Leonid Reznikov said.

Reznikov said he had recently visited Iran to study the construction of the nuclear power plant and to prepare the meeting of Rosatom head Sergei Kiriyenko with Iranian Vice-President, head of the Atomic Energy Organisation Gholam Reza Agazadeh due to be held in Vienna or Moscow on September 29.

The contract on the construction of the first unit was signed in Tehran on January 8, 1995. Under the document, Russia obliged to supply a VVER-1000 reactor, train Iranian specialists and supply fuel for reactors. All fuel, which should be used at the Bushehr nuclear power plant, was earlier transported. The total volume amounts to 83 tonnes of nuclear fuel, the Atomic Energy Organisation reported. According to the Russian-Iranian agreement, Iran obliged to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia.

In June Sergei Kiriyenko confirmed that the work was going under the plan and that nuclear fuel would be included in the preparatory work by autumn. “We are entering the final stage of the work,” Kiriyenko said. He stressed that the “timing is important, but safety and reliability are much more important, therefore the launch and adjustment will be given as much time as necessary”.

Earlier, Iranian specialists said the Bushehr launch should take place at the end of the summer or the autumn.

Reznikov said Russia would take part in building several units on the platform of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant (India). “Russia will work in any country that has decided to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.” “We’ll work in India that decided to build 3-6 units of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant,” Reznikov said.

He recalled that all restrictions had been lifted to supply energy equipment to India that is why “broad opportunities are being opened to develop cooperation with India in order to implement the agreement to build additional four units of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant”.

Reznikov said Atomstroiexport would prepare a visit to India by the company’s delegation due to new conditions.
(Source: ITAR-TASS)