Iran's Energy Minister: Iran's 1st Nuclear Plant to Go Operational in One Year

2008-07-19

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran's Energy Minister Parviz Fattah said the country's first nuclear power plant will be operational within a year.
"As the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has announced, Bushehr nuclear plant will be launched within a year," Fattah told MNA. "Had the nuclear plant been launched, we could have reduced the level of the electricity shortage we faced in Iran this year by nearly 50%," he added. He stressed that if the nuclear plant is not ready by next year, Iran will have a 1000-megawatt power shortage next year. Atomstroiexport, Russia's nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly, has signed a contract to construct Iran's first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. Recently the Russian premier's office announced that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have discussed the construction of Bushehr nuclear plant in a telephone conversation. President Ahmadinejad and Prime Minister Putin have "underlined the need for timely construction of the atomic power station at Bushehr," a statement from Putin's office said.