Russian-built nuke plant in Iran delayed till late 2008

The long-delayed startup of the 1,000-megawatt light-water reactor by Russia will not materialise till late 2008.

Iran’s first, Russian-built nuclear power plant will not start operating before late 2008, the head of the company in charge of its construction said today.

“I can say with certainty that the plant won’t be launched before late 2008,” Sergei Shmatko, the head of the Atomstroiexport company building the nuclear plant in the southern port of Bushehr, said on a trip to China, according to Russian news reports.

Russia on Monday made its first shipment of nuclear fuel to the Bushehr plant, paving the way for the long-delayed startup of the 1,000-megawatt light-water reactor. Russian officials have said that fuel deliveries would begin about half a year before Bushehr was expected to go into service, but they remained coy about the precise launch date.

Story continues below this ad

The US on Monday said it supports Russia providing enriched uranium to Iran so long as Moscow retrieves the used reactor fuel for reprocessing, as stipulated in an agreement between Russia and Iran.

Although initially opposed to Russian participation in building and supplying Bushehr, the United States and its allies agreed to remove any reference to the project in the first set of UN Security Council sanctions passed a year ago, in exchange for Moscow’s support for those penalties.

The US has been pushing for a third round of United Nations sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. Russia has joined the calls for Tehran to halt its enrichment effort but opposed new sanctions, saying they would only strengthen Iran’s resistance.