Russia will begin loading fuel in Iran's nuclear plant

Iran’s first nuclear power plant will start operating Aug. 21, with electricity generation to begin “several months later,” said Rosatom Corp., the Russian state nuclear holding company building the facility.

“On the 21st, nuclear fuel will be delivered to the reactor storage facility and from that moment on the plant can be certified as a nuclear power installation,” Rosatom spokesman Sergei Novikov said by phone in Moscow. “This means the end of the test phase. Power generation will begin several months later.”

Rosatom unit ZAO Atomstroyexport took over construction of the Bushehr plant after Russia signed a $1 billion contract for the project in 1995.

The Persian Gulf nation is under four sets of United Nations sanctions because of its nuclear program, which the U.S. and many of its allies say is aimed at creating a weapon. Iran, the second-largest oil producer in the Middle East, denies the allegation, saying it needs nuclear energy for civilian purposes, such as generating electricity.

Iranian Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, who is in charge of the country’s atomic energy agency, confirmed that the process of loading fuel into the reactor will begin next week, the state-run Iranian Students News Agency reported.

IAEA Present

The uranium fuel is enriched to between 1.6 and 3.6 percent and sealed, according to ISNA. Uranium enriched above a 20 percent concentration is defined as highly enriched, which can set off the chain reaction seen in a nuclear explosion. Most modern atomic weapons contain around 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of the heavy metal enriched to 90 percent.

Iran has invited the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, to oversee the fuel transfer, Salehi told ISNA.

“For unsealing them, IAEA inspectors will be present,” ISNA cited Salehi as saying.

About 165 fuel complexes, weighing 82 tons, will be fed into the reactor in a period of about 10 days, ISNA reported.