A Rosatom delegation is due in Tehran on April 21 to discuss nuclear fuel production, as well as construction of two power plants in the south of Iran, deputy managing director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said.
Working on the two nuclear power plants is slated to commence this year (started March 21), Behrouz Kamalvandi was quoted by IRNA as saying. The entire project of building nuclear power units in Iran, including the supplies of equipment and nuclear fuel, will not only be under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) but also fully comply with the commitment to non-proliferation of nuclear materials.
Iran and Russia reached an agreement on November 2014, whereby Russia’s state nuclear power company Rosatom will construct two reactors at the Bushehr site, with the possibility of six more to be constructed in the future.
The AEIO also plans to construct small-scale reactors for water desalination in the southern regions, Kamalvandi added. Construction of small-scale reactors is to be completed in a few years. Small-scale reactor could be utilized for various purposes, he noted. Two or three small reactors could be used individually or put together to form a medium-scale power plant if needed.
Small and medium-sized reactors are suitable for desalination, often with cogeneration of electricity, consuming low-pressure steam from the turbine and hot seawater feed from the final cooling system. The IAEA defines ‘small’ as under 300 megawatts (MW) and up to about 700 MW as ‘medium’. Together they are referred to as small and medium reactors (SMRs) by IAEA.
