Iran to Build Two More Nuclear Power Plants

2007/4/16
By Nasser Karimi TEHRAN, Iran, AP

Iran said Sunday it is seeking bids to build two more nuclear power plants even as the launch of its first plant is stalled amid a bitter dispute with Russia over its funding.

Ahmad Fayyazbakhsh, the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization in charge of power plants, told reporters the plants would be light-water reactors, each with the capacity to generate up to 1,600 megawatts of electricity.

Each plant would cost up to US$1.7 billion (euro1.26 billion) and take up to 11 years to construct, he said.

The announcement comes as Iran has been struggling with Russia over the funding of the country's first plant near the southern city of Bushehr.

Russia delayed the launch of the plant, which had been set for September and is already eight years behind schedule, and refused to ship uranium fuel for the reactor last month as earlier planned, citing Iran's payment arrears.

Iranian officials denied any payment delays under the US$1 billion (euro0.74 billion) contract, and accused Russia of caving in to Western pressure.

Due to have opened first in 1999, the Bushehr light-water reactor stands 95 percent complete, Iranian officials say. The facility, with its cream-colored reactor dome, overlooks the Persian Gulf and is heavily guarded, ringed with anti aircraft guns and radar stations. Troops block roads leading to the site.

Construction began in 1974 with help from then-West Germany. Work was then interrupted during the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the pro-Western Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and brought hard-line clerics to power. Iraq also bombed the plant during its 1980-88 war with Iran.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archives/2007416/107212.htm