Putin: Bushehr N. Power Plant to be Launched in Summer
News number: 881228031917:17 | 2010-03-19Nuclear
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8812280319

TEHRAN (FNA)- Russia would start up the reactor of Iran's first nuclear
power plant in the southern city of Bushehr in mid-2010, Russian Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin said.

"The first unit of the Iranian nuclear power plant in Bushehr should be
launched as soon as the summer," Putin said during a video conference in the
southern Russian city of Volgodonsk on Thursday.

Meantime Atomstroyexport, the Russian firm building the Bushehr power plant,
specified that the power plant would be launched in July.

"July is the start of the phase for the physical launch," head of the
Atomstroyexport department for construction of the Bushehr plant Vladimir
Pavlov announced.

The announcements by the Russian official prompted immediate criticism from
visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who said such a decision
would be "premature".

Russia has been building the nuclear facility in Iran since 1994. The
start-up of the station, originally scheduled to be completed in 1999, has
been delayed on several occasions.

Western corporations began the construction of the Bushehr facility in the
1970s. However, following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Western
companies reneged on their commitments and pulled out of the project due to
political pressure from Washington.

Iran then turned to Russia to complete the project. In 1992, Tehran and
Moscow signed a deal to complete the construction of the nuclear power
plant.