Iran and Russia working out 'technical details' of Bushehr plant
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Tehran, Dec 11, IRNA [Islamic Republic News Agency]-- Tehran and Moscow are
working out technical details of an agreement to bring a nuclear power plant
in the Iranian port city of Bushehr on line in 2006, the Chairman of the
Russian Federation Council, Sergei Mironov, said here Saturday.

The power plant, the subject of an international media hype, has seen
several dates for its operation pushed back from its initial target of 2003.

In August, Iran said the plant would become operational in October 2006, a
year behind the schedule.

Mironov, who arrived in Tehran Saturday for a one-day visit, stressed Iran`s
right to peaceful nuclear technology in the framework of the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), of which the country is a signatory.

Once operational, the Bushehr power plant is projected to generate 1,000
megawatts of electricity, 6,000 megawatts less than the target which Iran
has set to produce by 2021 in nuclear power plants.

But, its construction has been dogged by a whole slew of `complexities`,
primarily the deal on the return of spent fuel and its costs.

This has raised the ire of certain circles inside Iran amid suspicion that
Russia could be trying to use the project as a bargaining chip in its
political horse-trading with the United States.

A senior Iranian official sent a veiled warning to Russia recently, making
it clear that the Iranians would judge the Russians by their performance in
Bushehr.

Washington has been pressuring Moscow to pull out of the project, alleging
that Iran could use it as a front to build an atomic bomb. Russia, instead,
has repeatedly shrugged off US pressures and vowed to continue its
cooperation with Iran as long as the country complies with the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Moscow also opposes US efforts to report Tehran
to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

Meanwhile, several Iranian officials have come forth to stress that the most
sticking point in the two countries` cooperation is their differences over
the costs. They have stressed that a contract for the return of the spent
fuel has been finalized.

The two countries have set the deadline for Russia`s delivery of nuclear
fuel for the power plant to Iran at the end of 2005, according to the deputy
head of Iran`s Atomic Energy Organization, Assadollah Sabouri.

Construction of the Bushehr power plant has already cost Iran billions of
dollars. The German firm Siemens and its subsidiary Kraftwerke Union (KWU)
began work on the plant in 1974, but stopped following the Islamic
Revolution in 1979.

At that time, Unit-One was 90 percent complete, with 60 percent of the
equipment installed, and Unit-Two was 50 percent complete. During the 1980
to 1988 imposed war with Iraq, the Bushehr reactors were repeatedly targeted
by Iraq, which bombed the plant at least six times.

Starting in the mid-1980s, Iran approached several nuclear suppliers about
the possibility of completing the Bushehr-1 reactor. A consortium of West
German, Spanish and Argentine companies bid to complete it in the late
1980s, but the deal was never completed owing to US pressure.

In a similar deal, Iran signed a protocol in February 1990 with Spanish
companies to complete the plant and supply the reactor`s fuel, but they
later canceled the deal citing US political pressure. 2323/1432