“The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has put construction of the second and third (nuclear) power stations on its agenda due to the government’s programs and the emphasis laid by the President (Hassan Rouhani),” AEOI Deputy Chief Hossein Khalfi said today, addressing the opening ceremony of the 25th Exhibition of Iran’s Nuclear Industry Achievements.
He underlined that Iran is in a good situation in area of nuclear power plants construction, and said, “We have launched the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and handed it over to the country’s experts in the past two months.”
Khalfi reiterated that by launching the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant the country prevents the flow of seven million tons of various types of pollutants, which are dangerous to the environment, into the air.
“The country will save around seven million barrels of fossil fuel which amounts to about $700 million if each barrel of oil is priced at $100 after the (full) launch of the Bushehr Power Plant,” he said.
In September, Iran received the temporary control of all operations at Bushehr nuclear power plant from the Russian contractor after signing a relevant protocol.
The ceremony to endorse a protocol for the temporary delivery of the control of the Bushehr nuclear power plant to Iran was held on September 23 in the presence of Head of the AEOI Ali Akbar Salehi, Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian, and the Head of the Russian contractor company.
Before signing the protocol, Salehi said that Iranian experts will receive the temporary (but full) control of the Bushehr power plant this afternoon, adding that the full (everlasting) operational control of the plant will be delivered to Iran after a two-year-warranty or 7,000 hours of operation.
Late in August, Head of the Bushehr nuclear power plant Hossein Derakhshandeh announced that "the Bushehr power plant is now in the operational phase to produce safe and secure electricity".
"Once the control of the Bushehr nuclear power plant is delivered to the Iranian experts in the next two months, the plant will start industrial operation phase (meaning a full capacity operation)," he added.
In relevant remarks in August, Head of the Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation Sergey Kiriyenko said that his company is ready to transfer the full operational control of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant to the AEOI.
“The state company (Rosatom) will soon sign the documents to transfer the full operational control of the Bushehr nuclear power plant to Iran,” Kiriyenko said.
The Russian official underlined that Bushehr nuclear power plant is currently operating at 100-percent capacity and the process of preparing it for transfer to the project originator (Iran) is concluding.
Rosatom's construction arm, Atomstroyeksport, took over construction of Bushehr nuclear power plant after a German company pulled out of the project after the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.
The Islamic Republic signed the Bushehr contract with Russia in 1995 and the nuclear power plant reached its full capacity by August 2012.
The Bushehr nuclear power plant is located about 18 kilometers South of the provincial capital.
