Iran Takes Over Bushehr N. Power Plant

The Russian contractor company in charge of the construction of the facility handed over Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant to Iran during a ceremony in the presence of Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi, Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian, as well as a number of senior Iranian lawmakers and officials.

A protocol about temporary hand over of the power plant to Iran was signed between Iranian and Russian officials at the venue of Bushehr nuclear plant in southern Iran.

The hand over comes into effect at midnight local time.

Salehi had announced earlier that during the two-year trial period the power plant will be under Russian guarantee and a number of Russian experts will remain in place to give advice and technical assistance.

He also noted the plant’s final test which started two weeks ago, during which the generation capacity of the reactor should not have been below 90 percent of its nominal capacity, successfully ended on September 19.

Russia has agreed to provide the power plant’s fuel for 10 years, with the supply deal committing Tehran to returning the spent fuel.

The Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant became officially operational and was connected to Iran’s national grid in September 2011.

Iran and Russia have assured the international community that the plant is fully compliant with high-level safety standards and the IAEA safeguards.

Construction of the Bushehr facility began in the 1975 with the help of German company Siemens, which withdrew from the project after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) further hampered work on the project. In 1994 Russia signed a contract with Iran to finish the project in 1999.

Bushehr was finally finished more than a decade later and inaugurated in 2010, but it did not come into service until 2011 because of technical problems.