TEHRAN (Iran News) – A new batch of nuclear fuel has been delivered to the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced.
According to AEOI, the new batch was delivered based on the schedule of the Iranian and Russian side for the power plant’s annual refueling.
The Russian Embassy also said in a tweet that, “thanks to efforts of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, [Russian nuclear corporation] Rosatom and the Russian Foreign Ministry, a new batch of nuclear fuel was delivered to the Bushehr NPP. It was necessary for further functioning of the reactor.”
On April 12, a deputy head of Iran’s atomic agency, Mahmoud Jafari, announced that Bushehr’s Unit 1 will be temporarily shut down for refueling and technical maintenance in the run-up to the peak season in summer.
The Bushehr facility sits 17 kilometers southeast of the city of Bushehr along the Persian Gulf coast in southwestern Iran.
The power plant started operating in 2011 and reached its full capacity the following year.
In 2014, Russia signed a cooperation contract with Iran to help build the second and third Bushehr reactors, which are scheduled for launch in 2024 and 2026, respectively.
Iran has repeatedly enunciated its nuclear program as exclusively civilian, subject to the most intensive UN supervisions ever.
Tehran signed a nuclear deal in 2015 with six world countries, which forged close cooperation between Iran and the Agency.
The IAEA has been tasked with supervising the technical aspects of the agreement’s implementation.
The US, however, severely undermined the pact by abandoning it in May 2018 despite numerous IAEA reports on Tehran’s full compliance with the deal.
- source : MNA, Irannews
