In a Saturday interview, Behzad pointed out that the first phase of the plant is functioning at the capacity of 500 megawatts, adding, “The second phase of electricity production at Bushehr nuclear plant will soon be fully operational.”
The Iranian official noted that after the operation of the second phase, electricity production at Bushehr power plant will reach its nominal capacity of 1000-megawatt by the end of the current Persian calendar year in mid-March 2012, Mehr news agency reported.
The Bushehr plant was officially launched by the Iranian officials on September 12, and started by generating electricity at 40 percent of its capacity.
The 1,000-megawatt plant had been already connected to the country's national power grid with the power of 60 MW on September 3, 2011. It reached the capacity of 190 MW on September 27, and a day later it improved its capacity to 300 MW.
The nuclear power plant is located southeast of the city of Bushehr along the Persian Gulf.
Initial construction of the facility began in 1975 by German companies, but the work was stopped following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
In 1995, Iran and Russia reached an agreement to complete the project, but power generation was delayed several times due to a number of technical and financial problems.
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Publish Date: 17 December 2011 - 13:58
Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Behzad says electricity production at Bushehr nuclear power plant will double in near future.