Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant Starts Operation

FNA dispatches from Bushehr said that Iranian and Russian expert completed loading fuel into the heart of the power plant and that nuclear fuel use has started in the power plant, meaning that it is now running activity. The plant will continue working for two weeks before it produce electricity. The power plant will connect the national grid by the next two months. Iran signed a deal with Russia in 1995, according to which the plant was initially scheduled for completion in 1999. However, the project was frequently delayed by the Russian side due to the intense pressure exerted on Moscow by the United States and its western allies. Russia finally completed building of the plant last summer.

On October 26, Iran started injecting fuel into the core of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in the original phase of launching the nuclear reactor. The facilities function under the full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Later in March, Iran unloaded fuel from the heart of the Bushehr reactor, and washed and triple-check the fuel rods in a move to further increase the safety of the plant. US officials announce the similar month that the disruption was due to a US spyware attack against Iran's nuclear facilities through malicious software recognized as Stuxnet, but Iranian officials dismissed the claim.

Iran then started reloading fuel into the core of the reactor, and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi publicize that the reactor would enter sensitive phases of operation from May 5 to 10. The remarks by Salehi came a day after Russia's Atomstroiexport Company, which oversaw the plant's structure, said in a statement that the refueling operation in progress after the plant had been rechecked. "The loading of fuel rod assemblies into the core in progress at the Bushehr nuclear power plant on April 8," the statement added.

Bushehr Ready to collect Uranium Fuel Rods in Mid-October

Head of the Atomic Energy organization of Iran (AEOI) told reporters Sunday the ground is being ready to load uranium fuel rods into the reactor’s core in the near future. He dismissed media reports on the spoil caused by a Trojan virus named Stuxnet. Salehi said only a few personal computers of some staff were infected with the virus and the general system was not harmed. The nuclear chief further explained detecting a small leakage at the main core of the reactor, which was quickly sealed, caused recent delay for the opening of Bushehr plant.

‘During the Bushehr power plant's washing progression a leak was discovered at the side pool of the reactor and it was plugged. This leakage postponed the behavior of the plant for a few days,’ Salehi said. Iran’s successful launch of its first nuclear reactor would boost electricity manufacture by 1000 megawatts once the plant reaches its maximum output. Tehran plans to build ten extra nuclear power plants within next few years.

United States views oil and gas-rich Iran's autonomy in the field of nuclear technology, posing a direct threat to its own interests in the region. Western countries ever since the end of WWII and up until recently have been able to take advantage of the region's fit technological backwardness to access cheap oil and gas and boost their industrial economies.