The Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in the southern namesake city has helped Iran save and export 90 million barrels of oil over the past nine years, a deputy at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said.
“The facility generates close to 6 billion kilowatt hours of power annually and producing the same amount of electricity in a thermal power station needs at least 2 billion cubic meters of gas or 10 million barrels of crude per annum,” Mahmoud Jafari was also quoted as saying by Barq News.
The nuclear power plant has helped avoid the emission of 42 million tons of CO2 in the nine years, he added.
Jafari said the development of the plant will help curb burning oil and natural gas that can be used as feedstock in petrochemical plants to produce value-added goods.
Upon the full burn-up, 1 kg of uranium enriched up to 4% (which is used in nuclear fuel) releases energy equivalent to that obtained as a result of burning about 60 tons of oil.
The fissile material (Uranium-235) is not completely burned out in the nuclear fuel and can be reused following regeneration (as opposed to ash and fossil fuel burnouts). In the future, complete transition to closed fuel cycle is possible, meaning that no waste will be generated.
According to Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, construction operations at the second and third units of Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant are making headway.
Eslami noted that concrete pouring work at the site of the second unit is complete.
The construction of the first unit of the plant in Bushehr was carried out with the help of Russia. It reached full capacity (1,000 MW) in 2012.
The second unit of the plant is scheduled to come on stream in five years, while the third will be finished in seven years, following which nuclear power generation capacity will stand at 3,000 MW.
The second and third units will each have a capacity of 1,057 MW. Over $10 billion have been allocated to the two units.
The construction of nuclear power plants provides economic growth and creates new jobs, he added, noting that 1 job in nuclear power plant construction creates 10–15 jobs in related sectors. The development of nuclear energy contributes to the growth of research and national intellectual potential.
Over the next 50 years, mankind will consume more energy than it has been consumed in the entire preceding history. Early predictions about the growth of energy consumption and development of new power technologies have not come true. The level of consumption is growing much faster, while new sources of energy will become widely accessible at affordable prices no later than 2030.
Lack of fossil fuels is becoming more relevant than ever. The likelihood of building new hydroelectric power stations is limited and activities aimed at combating greenhouse gases, which impose restrictions on the burning of oil, gas and coal at thermal power plants should not be forgotten.
The active development of nuclear power – one of the youngest and fastest growing sectors of the global economy – may be the solution. More and more countries now come to understand the need to start developing peaceful nuclear energy.
