News / Nuclear Energy

Russia to start building 2 nuclear plants in Iran next week: AEOI

Tuesday, 22 December 2015 1:39 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 22 December 2015 2:26 PM ]

Spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Behrouz Kamalvandi

Russia will start constructing two nuclear power plants in Iran next week, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi says.

Speaking in a radio interview on Tuesday, Kamalvandi added that technical measures are underway in parallel with political and economic negotiations.

Russia has already built a power plant in the southern Iranian port city of Bushehr. The agreement for Bushehr nuclear power plant was finalized in 1995, but the project was delayed several times due to a number of technical and financial problems.

The 1,000-megawatt plant, which is operating under the full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reached its maximum power generation capacity in August 2012.

The file photo shows a view of Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran.

In November 2014, Tehran and Moscow struck a deal to build eight more nuclear power plants in Iran.

Kamalvandi noted that Iran has started swapping enriched uranium stockpile for Russia's yellowcake.

His remarks came after the AEOI Head, Ali Akbar Salehi, said on Saturday that Iran will export about nine tonnes of its enriched uranium stockpile to Russia in the coming days.

“As it has been previously announced, we have imported 137 tonnes of yellowcake from Russia and will export about nine tonnes of enriched uranium to Russia within the next days,” Salehi said.

The export of low-enriched uranium from Iran to Russia takes place within the framework of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on July 14.

Under the JCPOA, limits will be put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all economic and financial sanctions against the Islamic Republic related to its nuclear program.

On November 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree lifting the ban on supplying Iran with equipment for uranium enrichment. According to the official government website, the move was linked to Russia importing enriched uranium from Iran.

According to Putin’s decree, “The ban on supplying goods, materials and equipment no longer applies ‘to the exports of the enriched uranium from the Islamic Republic of Iran.’”

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