Iran, Russia Sign Nuclear Power Deal

Date: 11 November 2014 - 21:35

News ID: ۷۲۸۳

MOSCOW (Dispatches) – Russia on Tuesday signed a deal with Iran to build two new nuclear reactors and agreed to expand the total number of Russian reactors in the country to eight, the state nuclear agency Rosatom said.
A series of agreements, signed during a visit to Moscow by Iran's nuclear program chief Ali Akbar Salehi, includes a contract for two new reactors at the existing Russia-built Bushehr plant.
They included a protocol intergovernmental agreement for building a nuclear power plant in Iran, and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation in using atomic energy for peaceful purposes, signed by Sergey Kirienko, chief executive of Russia's nuclear agency Rosatom and Iran's Vice President Salehi.
The so-called Bushehr Phase II consists of two reactors at the same Persian Gulf coast site as the existing 1,000 megawatt reactor Russia launched last year.
The countries also agreed to expand the total number of reactors in Bushehr to four, and construct "four similar power units on another site in Iran", the location of which is yet to be provided by Tehran, Rosatom said in a statement.
Russia will also train Iranian specialists in operation, servicing and corresponding engineering support of the nuclear facilities as well as in the field of regulation of nuclear and radiation safety.
The project "will be under the IAEA safeguards and fully meet the nuclear nonproliferation regime", Rosatom said. Nuclear fuel will be produced in Russia and spent fuel returned to Russia.
However Rosatom also announced plans to look into ways of producing fuel rod components for the project in Iran.
The countries "plan to go into the issue of economic expediency and feasibility of fabricating fuel rod components in Iran, which will be used at these power units", it said.
Fuel rods used at Bushehr contain Russian low-enriched uranium. It was not clear whether Russia is considering switching to uranium enriched in Iran.
Iran plans to build 20 more nuclear plants in the future, including four in Bushehr, to decrease its dependence on oil and gas.
"It's a turning point in the development of relations between our countries," Salehi said.
"These acts of friendship by Russia will remain in our memory," he said at the signing ceremony, according to Russian news agency RIA-Novosti.
Iran already runs one Russian-built reactor in its Bushehr power plant.
After signing a deal on the construction of nuclear plants in 1992, Tehran and Moscow reached an agreement in 1995 to complete Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, 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.
In September 2013, Iran officially took over from Russia the first unit of its first 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant for two years.