Russia Planning to Build More Nuclear Reactors in Iran

Russian state-run nuclear energy giant Rosatom is in talks to build another nuclear power plant in Iran. The Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) on Feb. 23 said Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev discussed the plan at the Future Technologies Forum in Moscow, Russia.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Moscow in January to talk about a partnership deal between the two countries related to energy. Iran wants to increase its power generation capacity due to ongoing blackouts across the country because of a lack of available electricity.

“We are conducting another [round of] large-scale negotiations on the next site for developing nuclear energy in Iran,” Likhachev said at the forum in Moscow. The Rosatom chief executive said a site for a nuclear power station has been chosen, but did not reveal the location, saying only that “the start of work is still a long way off.

“We see Iran’s government taking an active stance in advancing nuclear energy. On our end, we are accelerating our efforts and are engaged in large-scale negotiations regarding the next site for nuclear energy development in Iran,” Likhachev said.

One Operating Reactor in Iran

Iran has one operating nuclear reactor, a 1,000-MW Russian-designed VVER unit at the southern port city of Bushehr, on the coast of the Persian Gulf. Two more VVER-1000 units are under construction at the site. Work on Unit 2 began in 2019, with commercial operation now expected in 2029 after earlier reports said the unit could come online last year. Iranian media reported that installation of safety equipment in Unit 2 began earlier in February, along with excavation works for the water cooling pump houses of both units.

Construction of Unit 3 began last year. The expansion project would increase Bushehr’s generation capacity to about 3,000 MW. Likhachev said Rosatom was “very actively” working with Iran on the Bushehr expansion.

Iran also is building a smaller, 300-MW nuclear plant in the Khuzestan province, near the country’s western border with Iraq. That plant is scheduled to come online by 2030.

Russia and Iran have been working to strengthen their bilateral cooperation around energy. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the two countries’ agreements are part of a “comprehensive strategic partnership. It sets ambitious goals and outlines guidelines for deepening bilateral cooperation in the long term.”

—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.