Iran to start nuclear power generation in December

• 14 years ago (2010-08-16)
• David Flin

Europe 1088 Middle East 326 Nuclear 659

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Iran will start generation of electricity from nuclear power in early December, according to Mohammad Ahmadian, Managing Director of Iran’s Atomic Energy Generation and Development Company. The company is affiliated to the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI). He said on Iranian state TV: “Iran starts nuclear energy production in late September, and will start generating commercial nuclear electricity in early December. The Bushehr plant has undertaken major tests over the last nine months, and it has successfully carried out its warm test. The next stage is to enter the operational phase.”

He then referred to the agreement between Iran and Russia for the Bushehr nuclear plant, and said: “Russia is contracted to provide fuel for the Bushehr plant for 10 years, and under the terms of the agreement, we can acquire the required fuel from different sources. The plant needs 30 tons of fuel annually, and we will need more if other units go on stream.” Ahmadian went on to say: “We will negotiate from a stronger position if we can produce fuel domestically, even if we want to receive some fuel from abroad.”

He said that 163 fuel rods enriched to a maximum of 3.6 per cent have been placed into the Bushehr reactor core.