A spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said Tehran
and Moscow were in talks on building a new unit at the Bushehr nuclear
power plant to promote bilateral strategic cooperation in energy and
technology.
Behrouz kamalvandi, spokesman for AEOI made the statement in an interview
with Press TV, during a visit to Russia accompanying Iranian President,
Ebrahim Raisi, Thursday (20/1/2022).
According to Kamalvandi, nuclear cooperation is “one of the most strategic
issues” on the agenda of the meeting between Raisi and his Russian
counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
“The issue of the nuclear industry can be divided into two parts, namely
activities related to energy and non-energy related activities. In both
fields, relations between the two countries are very good. We are supplied
by various types of radioisotopes that are used for medical, industrial,
agricultural and other fields,” he said.
"At their meeting, Raisi and Putin explored ways to further enhance the
already "excellent" relations that Iran and Russia enjoy in the nuclear
energy sector," Kamalvandi explained.
He pointed out that the joint project to build additional units at the
Bushehr plant is in line with Iran's plans to generate at least 10,000
megawatts of electricity, using nuclear energy.
The process continued quickly despite pending payments to Russia, he
added. “As you know, Iran has a program to increase its nuclear power
capacity by at least 10,000 megawatts. Russia can make an excellent
contribution to this program.
This matter has been discussed by the two presidents and we look forward
to exchanging delegations in the near future to implement new projects,"
Kamalvandi said.
The official further said that one of Iran's planned nuclear projects with
Russia is worth around $5 billion.
“As is known, a power plant with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts is working.
Technology has been transferred to Iranian expertise. It is operated by
Iranian engineers. We have built two new units with a capacity of 1,000
megawatts each," he added.
