• Energy

    Construction of Karoun Power Plant to Conclude in 8 Years

    Operations to equip the workshop for the construction of Karoun Nuclear Power Plant have commenced in Darkhovein City, Shadegan County, Khuzestan Province, and contracts for supplying heavy equipment have been finalized with domestic industries, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said.

    “The executive operation of the plant with a capacity of 2,000 megawatts started two months ago, which will become fully operational in eight years,” Mohammad Eslami was also quoted as saying by Barq News. 

    “Based on the schedule, the power station will initially start generating 300 MW of electricity,” he added.

    The power plant will be constructed by Iranian experts and engineers with the help of domestic knowledge-based firms and manufacturers. 

    Eslami noted that the plan is to build an all-Iranian power plant in accordance with international standards in the near future.

    Estimated to cost $2 billion, the power station, built on a 50-hectare plot near Karoun River, will curb the flaring of gas that can be used as feedstock in petrochemical plants to produce value-added goods.

    The development of nuclear energy contributes to the growth of research and national intellectual potential. Currently, only one nuclear power plant is operating in Bushehr Province.

    The first unit of Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant with a capacity of 1,050 MW is operational and the construction of two more units with the same capacity is on the AEOI agenda.

    In the last nine years, over 52 billion kilowatt hours of electricity were produced by the plant and injected into the power grid of the country. The generation of nuclear power has helped save fossil fuel equivalent to 85 million barrels of oil.

    Iran has started the reinforcement of the walls of the reactor of the second unit with concrete.

     

     

    Financial Constraints

    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 carried out with the help of Russia, which is also involved in the development of the facility.

    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 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.

    A total of $10 billion have been allocated for the construction of the two units.

    The Bushehr plant is the first civilian nuclear power facility in the Middle East, which operates under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

    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 prevent the emission of 42 million tons of CO2 in the past nine years.