"We have successfully completed a test known as the 'metallic sphere' and are now contemplating the warm water test in order to get the power plant open and running," Ali Akbar Salehi said on Monday.

"After the mentioned tests we will be able to load nuclear fuel to the core of the reactor," he added.

According to the Bushehr project manager, Mahmoud Jafari, preparations for the warm water test will take about 50 days due to the vastness of the project area.

In January 1978, Germany's Kraftwerk Union, which according to a contract was obliged to complete Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor, stopped work on the project with one reactor 50 percent complete and the other reactor 85 percent finished.

The Bushehr plant was originally scheduled to be completed in 1999 but the work has repeatedly been postponed.

PHOTO:

Salehi