The facility, the first nuclear power plant in Iran, came back online after it was shut down in early April for fuel change and repair by Iranian technicians without the help of Russians who have built it, Press TV reported.

“For the first time, the annual fuel change and periodic repairs of the main equipment at Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant were carried out by the capable specialists of this advanced nuclear power plant, and the power plant was reconnected to the national electricity grid after successful tests,” AEOI said.

“With the summertime peak consumption period just beginning, the plant successfully resumed electricity generation on Sunday and hooked up with the national electricity grid,” it added.

Sunday marked the start of summer in the Iranian calendar, during which many consumers crank up their air conditioners amid sizzling temperatures which see the mercury hit 50°C in some southern cities.

According to Director of Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant Reza Banazadeh, fuel change is “a very sensitive and complex process” which is carried out by skilled Iranian operators.

They use a robot to discharge one-third of fuel and load new uranium fuel rods to the core of the reactor after a series of specialized activities, he added.

For Iran, this is a big feat. AEOI spokesman, Behrouz Kamalvandi, had said in May that Iran would probably cut its dependence on Russian engineers and become self-sufficient in maintenance in the Bushehr plant by 2022.

The task was successfully carried out especially at a time when the coronavirus outbreak this year has left Iran with some constrains for using domestic and foreign contractors at the site, Banazadeh said.

“By turning this restriction into a valuable opportunity and relying on the knowledge and responsibility of the power plant’s committed personnel as per a precise planning, the periodic repair of the plant’s main equipment was carried out by the capable forces of this huge industrial complex with minimal utilization of contracting services.”

It shows that Iran can continue to advance despite difficulties, Banazadeh said.

The plant, built with a capacity to produce 1,000 megawatts of power, started adding electricity to the national grid in September 2011.

Iran began building two more nuclear reactors in a joint project with Russia’s Rosatom State Atomiс Energy Corporation in Bushehr, southern Iran, in November 2017.

The country’s aim is to build nuclear power plants with 20,000 megawatts of capacity to meet the growing domestic electricity demand, so it can save its hydrocarbons for exports.

According to the AEOI chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, as a result of the Bushehr plant’s operations, some 11 million barrels of crude oil are saved annually. It also helps reduce up to seven million tons of gas emissions every year.

“Since the cost of constructing a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant is $5,000 billion, we need to invest $100,000 billion to build nuclear power plants with a capacity to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity,” Salehi said.

Russia has been involved in Iran’s nuclear power generation efforts more than any country. It is currently supplying the nuclear fuel used at Bushehr, but Iran has said it wants to make its own fuel to have secure supplies in the future.

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According To Iran News, The President of ASE Group of Companies of the Russian Federation’s power equipment and service exporter, Atomstroyexport, Alexander Lokshin expressed content about Iran-Russia nuclear cooperation and his company’s capability of accomplishing construction of the first unit of Bushehr power plant on time.

“The first unit of Bushehr power plant has generated above 40 billion kilowatts of electricity, saving 40 million cubic meters of oxigen,” Lokshin said during the ceremony to start laying the concrete foundations of the second unit of Bushehr nuclear power plant on Sunday.

He hoped that the second unit of the plant will be completed for inauguration without facing any specific difficulties and also on time to improve the welfare of the Iranian nation.

Making remarks at the same event, Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi announced that Iran will produce up to 3,000 megawatts of nuclear-generated electricity by 2027, which will avert emission of 21 million tons of pollutant gases.

The AEOI chief added that Bushehr plant will help the country save $660 million per year.

Describing that each nuclear power plant can stay online for about 60 years and more, Salehi added that each plant costs $5 billion and can return its initial construction costs in six years after becoming opeartional.

The Iranian official also informed that Bushehr plant, which is safe and secure, can provide local residents with 200,000 to 400,000 cubic meters of potable water in future.

As previously reported, the second unit of the Bushehr nuclear power plant is scheduled to come on stream in 6 years, while the third unit will be finished in 8 years.

The 2nd and 3rd units of the Bushehr plant will increase the share of nuclear power in Iran’s electricity supply to amounts well beyond the current 2.7 percent.

In November 2014, the Nuclear Power Production and Development Company of Iran (NPPD) and Russia’s Atomstroiexport signed two contracts to work on parts of the 2nd and 3rd units.

A total of $10 billion have been allocated for the construction of the two units.

The capacity of the second phase is expected to stand above 1,000 megawatts (MW). The total capacity of the two units of WWER-1,000 (Water-Water Energetic Reactor) will be 2,100 megawatts.

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The total production capacity of power plants in the world stands at 6,628 gigawatts and thermal power plants have a 61 percent share with the production capacity of 4,017 gigawatts.

Among non-thermal power plants, about 14.8 percent of total nominal capacity of power plants of the country is related to the hydroelectricity power plants, 0.9 percent to the renewable units, 1.3 percent to nuclear power plants, 0.5 percent to the diesel-powered units while the rest 1.8 percent is related to the small-scale gas units.

In Iran, gas-, steam- and combined cycle power plants with the production capacity more than 25 megawatts are known as mega thermal power plant.

In thermal power plants, thermal energy in the initial fuel is turned into electrical energy.

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Quality of Iran’s electrical parts and equipment is unique of its kind in the region, he said, adding, “electrical authorities of Iraqi’s Sulaymaniyah province have come to this conclusion that quality of Iranian goods observe requirements of international criteria and standards.”

In the first phase, 200 megawatt electricity will be exported to Iraqi’s KRG and Sulaymaniyah, expandable to 900 megawatts in future, Lahounian highlighted.

He pointed to the development of power industry ties between Kordestan Regional Power Company and Iraqi’s KRG in the field of taking advantage of high capacities and potentials of the two parties and added, “planning is underway to lead activities of power industry towards economizing, reducing costs and engineering fields.”

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Steam unit of Kashan Combined Cycle Power Plant became operational this morning Jan. 13 in the presence of First Vice President Es’hagh Jahangiri.

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