The first unit of Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant with a capacity of 1,050 megawatts is operational and the construction of two more units with the same capacity is on the agenda of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, in collaboration with Russia, the director of AEOI said.
“In the last seven years, about 52 billion kilowatt hours of electricity were produced by the plant and injected into the power grid of the country,” Mohammad Eslami was also quoted as saying by Bargh News.
“By producing nuclear power, we have saved fossil fuel equivalent to 85 million barrels of oil,” he added.
Iran has started the operation of reinforcing the walls of the reactor of the second unit with concrete.
Despite problems caused by Covid-19 and financial constraints due to the illegal US sanctions, work on the second unit has continued without any interruption.
The US imposed new economic sanctions on Iran in August 2018, mainly targeting the key industrial sectors. In the May of that year, US ex-president, Donald Trump, tore up the landmark 2015 nuclear deal Iran had signed with the six world powers and has since called for a new and comprehensive agreement with Tehran.
In November, Washington imposed a second round of sanctions, targeting the key energy sector.
The construction of the first unit of the plant in Bushehr was also carried out with the help of Russia.
Iran has signed a contract with the Russian company Rosatom and its subsidiaries to build two reactors on the same site. The second unit of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant is scheduled to come on stream in five years, while the third will be completed in seven years, following which nuclear power generation capacity will stand at 3,150 MW. Over $10 billion have been allocated to the two units.
The Bushehr plant is the first civilian nuclear power facility in the Middle East and operates under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
A total of $10 billion have been allocated for the construction of the two units.
