Iran launches Bushehr power plant
Iran started loading fuel to the Bushehr power plant on Saturday in the south of country. “This is a special day for both Russian and Iranian specialists. Today we have launched the Busher plant,” Director of Rosatom Sergei Kiriyenko said.
Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi termed the day as historical and memorable and thanked the Russian side for support.
The Bushehr project dates backs to 1974, when Iran's U.S.-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi contracted with the German company Siemens to build the reactor. The company withdrew from the project after the 1979 Islamic Revolution toppled the shah.
The partially finished plant later sustained damages after it was bombed by Iraq during its 1980-88 war against Iran.
Russia signed a $1 billion contract to build the Bushehr plant in January, 1995 but has dragged its feet on completing the work. The construction works, however, kicked off in 1998.