Iran will build a second nuclear plant in Bushehr

Tehran plans to build a second 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in Bushehr in the south, next to the first Iranian nuclear power plant, declared the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Fereydoun Abasi. Iranian television in Spanish, HispanTV, reported that, according to Abbasi, the current plant at Bushehr, also with a maximum output of 1,000 megawatts and began operations in September last year, "has not yet begun production of electricity "to the supply network. Abasi said that within three months the plant will achieve "stability" and the end of 2012, "the Russian contractor of the project will deliver the Bushehr plant at full capacity." The official said Iran could produce its own nuclear fuel for Bushehr, but, "according to the bilateral agreement, the Russians cooperate with us for the next ten years." The present construction company plant in Bushehr, Russian Atomstroyexport, announced on May 3 in a statement that the plant would be fully operational by May 23, but later the Iranian authorities said they would not happen until at least September this year. Iran began building the Bushehr nuclear power plant in the 1970s with German help, but the project was interrupted by the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 deposed the last Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Atomstroyexport resumed construction after signing a contract with Iran in February 1998, but since then the project has suffered numerous delays because of concerns of some countries, led by the U.S., the existence of an Iranian military nuclear program, Tehran has denied exists. Iran also announced on 24 March that can design and build nuclear reactors under IAEA supervision pool, the International Atomic Energy Agency. Abasi himself then said that these reactors would be similar to the investigation of Tehran, which has a capacity of 5 megawatts, adding: "We intend to build a similar one of 10 megawatts." The reactor in Tehran, Iranian officials said, and works with plates of uranium enriched to 20 percent manufactured in the factory Iran's Isfahan in the center of the country, and is used to produce radioactive isotopes for medical use, dedicated to the treatment of about 800,000 cancer patients.