Russia Has Deal to Build Eight Nuclear Power Plants in Iran

The president of Iran’s nuclear energy agency said officials in that country have signed an agreement with Russia for construction of at least eight nuclear power plants in Iran. Mohammad Eslami, president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), confirmed the deal on June 9 during a visit by members of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee to the AEOI headquarters in Tehran, and to the Tehran Research Reactor.

Eslami, according to Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said at least four of the new units would be build in Bushehr, site of Iran’s only currently operating nuclear power plant. The 1,000-MW Bushehr facility was completed by Russia in May 2011. The power station has been central to the country’s civilian nuclear energy program, and has long been operated with cooperation from Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear agency.

“We have a contract with Russia to construct eight nuclear power plants in Iran, four of which will be in Bushehr,” Rezaei quoted Eslami as saying. The AEOI in February of last year said construction had commenced on the 5,000-MW Iran-Hormoz plant, which will have four 1,250-MW reactors, near the cities of Minab and Sirik in the southern coastal province of Hormozgan. The government at that time said the project would require a $15-billion investment.

Funding from Russia

Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad in April had said Russia would fund the construction of a new nuclear plant in Iran. Paknejad in a statement said the two countries would join on “the construction of new nuclear energy facilities and the completion of phases two and three of the Bushehr power plant using Moscow’s credit line.”

Iran’s parliament on May 21 ratified a 20-year strategic partnership with Russia. Reports said the deal would expand economic and military cooperation between the two countries.

The current Bushehr plant in early May completed a major maintenance project, along with a refueling. The facility, located on the Persian Gulf, is being expanded with the two additional 1-GW reactors referenced by Paknejad. Reza Banazadeh, head of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, said the project is part of Iran’s plan “to increase nuclear power capacity to 20,000 MW by 2041.”

Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in a recent interview about nuclear power with the Financial Times said Iran is his “biggest preoccupation” when it comes to construction of new nuclear power stations. Grossi, in a June 9 interview with The Jerusalem Post, said he’s been told by Iranian officials that strikes by Israel on Iran’s nuclear assets would push Iran to create nuclear weapons.

Iranian officials have said the country needs nuclear power to bolster its energy supply, and also as a source of emissions-free electricity. The country’s nuclear program continues to draw international scrutiny amid concerns about its potential military applications. Officials in Tehran have maintained their nuclear ambitions are peaceful, and are being conducted under the oversight of the IAEA. Iran, though, has expelled some agency inspectors from the country, and has pushed back against the installation of equipment to monitor its nuclear program.

Ebrahim Azizi, head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, on Monday said Iran will continue to pursue its atomic ambitions despite pressure from the international community, including the U.S. “Iran’s nuclear industry is not something that can be shut down. We will stand firm for the nuclear industry to our last breath and will never back down,” said Azizi.

—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.