The construction operation of Karoun Nuclear Power Plant in Shadegan County in Khuzestan Province has started, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said on Saturday.
“The 300-megawatt power station will be built on a 50-hectare plot near Karoun River at an estimated cost of $2 billion,” Mohammad Eslami was also quoted as saying by Barq New website.
The project is supposed to become operational in eight years with the help of local firms, he added, noting that the nuclear power plant is expected to be equipped with a pressurized water reactor (PWR) and its fuel is enriched uranium dioxide that contains about 4% (by weight) of fissionable 235U, or mixed uranium-plutonium oxide in pellet form.
Eslami said the atomic facility 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% (used in nuclear fuel) releases energy equivalent to that obtained by burning about 60 tons of oil.
The construction of nuclear power plants provides economic growth and creates new jobs, he added, noting that one 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.
The new power plant will have two separate circulation systems for the turbine and the reactor: the primary and secondary coolant circuits.
PWR is a type of nuclear reactor used to generate electricity and propel nuclear submarines and naval vessels. They make use of light water (ordinary water, as opposed to heavy water) as their coolant and neutron moderator.
It is one of three types of light water reactors, with the others being the boiling water reactor and the supercritical water cooled reactor.
Bushehr NPP
According to Eslami, 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 AEOI agenda.
“In the last nine years, about 52 billion kilowatt hours of electricity were produced by the plant and injected into the power grid of the country. 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, the US quit 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.
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.
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.
Eslami saidf 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 per annum.
The nuclear power plant has helped avoid the emission of 42 million tons of CO2 in the past nine years, he added.
High Growth in Energy Consumption
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 in 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.
