The head of Rosenergoatom said Iran and Russia have signed an agreement on the provision of services to the Bushehr nuclear power plant.
Rosenergoatom Chief Executive Officer Evgeny Romanov told Russian news agency Rossiya Segodnya that the firm has signed a five-year cooperation agreement with Iran, IRNA reported.
The two sides have agreed that Rosenergoatom, which is a subsidiary of Rosatom, participates in construction of new power plants to be built in Bushehr.
The 1,000 MW Bushehr plant officially began operations in September 2011, generating electricity at 40 percent capacity. The commercial production of the plant is expected to start later in 2015.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and Russia's Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation signed an agreement in 2014, according to which Russia is to construct eight units with pressurized water reactors “turn-key ready” in Iran. Four of them will be built at the Bushehr nuclear power plant. Besides, nuclear fuel for the future reactors will be provided by Russia during the whole life cycle of the new reactors, and spent fuel will be returned for processing and storage.
Temporary Shutdown
Bushehr nuclear power plant has been shut down based on a previously arranged schedule.
The AEOI announced that Bushehr plant will remain closed for two months. "This is meant to refuel the 1,000-megawatt power plant in a bid to help meet Iran’s electricity consumption for the peak period of next summer." The annual refueling deadline for the plant falls in June.
“However, given that June is a period when electricity consumption reaches its maximum, Bushehr plant needed to be put off the stream sooner to prepare it for the summer consumption peak,” said the AEOI in its statement.
Bushehr plant is the first civilian nuclear power project in the Middle East and operates under the full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
