Saeedi On Upcoming IAEA Board of Governors Meeting, Bushehr Construction Progress

January 24, 2007

Weapon Program: 

  • Nuclear

Mentioned Suspect Entities & Suppliers: 

Related Country: 

  • Russia

Deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) for international affairs Mohammad Saeedi, said here Wednesday that the Board of Governors will decide about 10 percent of Iran-IAEA technical and security cooperation in its February session.

He told IRNA that some members of the Board of Governors believe that such a decision will be in connection with the UNSC anti-Iran Resolution 1737.

Saeedi hoped that by adopting a realistic approach towards technical cooperation between Iran and the agency, the Board of Governors will not involve the UN nuclear watchdog in political disputes.

He noted that the remaining 90 percent Iran-IAEA cooperation will be in medical, food, agricultural and security fields.

Turning to the fruitful cooperation between the two sides on technical issues in the past, he hoped that the level of such cooperation will not decline, but that it will have a growing trend.

Turning to Bushehr nuclear power plant, the IAEO official said that the project is progressing according to schedule, adding that steam generators, turbines and fuel tanks have been installed.

The IAEO official said that some of the secondary installations of the power plant have been put into operation, adding that the Russian contractor, Atom Stroi Export, is successfully installing the remaining equipment.

Saeedi hoped that in the coming months the installation and implementation trend will be further expedited.

"Based on Majlis bill, the IAEO has drawn up a comprehensive time schedule for generation of 20,000 megawatts of electricity from nuclear power," he concluded.

According to the schedule, the 1,000 MW Bushehr nuclear power plant is expected to be implemented by late summer of 2007.

The reactor of Bushehr nuclear power plant is of the light water type.