Iran is to build a new nuclear power plant, alongside its sole existing one in the southern city of Bushehr, by early 2014, state television reported, quoting the Head of the country’s Atomic Energy Organization.

“Iran will build a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in Bushehr next year,” the television quoted Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani as saying. He was referring to the Iranian calendar year running from March 2013 to March 2014.

The Mehr news agency suggested the timeline could be longer, quoting Abbasi-Davani as saying: “We will begin plans for a 1,000-megawatt plant in Bushehr next year.” He said foreign contractors would be needed for its construction.

The Mehr and Isna news agencies both reported another nuclear plant was also planned and could be built in coming years.

Isna quoted Abbasi-Davani as saying that designs for a 360-megawatt facility in Darkhovin, in the southwestern province of Khuzestan near the border with Iraq, “have been finished and we are reviewing it.” He did not elaborate.

Darkhovin, a project initiated by France but abandoned after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, has been stalled because of European sanctions against Tehran.

In September 2011, Deputy Nuclear Chief Mohamed Ahmadian said Iran was seeking foreign help to finish the project. 

 

Source: Mehr; Isna