Islam Times - ’Bushehr nuclear plant to add 1,000 MW to national grid’

Islam Times - Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant will join the national grid in its full capacity in upcoming months.

“Nuclear electricity with the capacity of 1,000 megawatts will be connected to the national network” early in the next Iranian year (starting March 20), after final tests are successfully implemented, Fereydoun Abbasi said on Sunday.

He further said that nearly 700 megawatts of nuclear power produced by the Bushehr nuclear power plant was already added to the national grid in mid February.

The Bushehr plant was officially launched by Iranian officials in September and began operations by generating electricity at 40 percent of its capacity.

The 1,000-megawatt plant had been already connected to the country's national power grid with the power of 60 MW on September 3, 2011. It reached the capacity of 190 MW on September 27, 2011 and a day later it raised the capacity to 300 MW.

The plant gained 50 percent of its nominal power last October as it reached the capacity of 420 MW.

The nuclear power plant is located southeast of the city of Bushehr along the Persian Gulf.

Initial construction of the facility began in 1975 by German companies, but the work was halted following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In 1995, Iran and Russia reached an agreement to complete the project, but power generation was delayed several times due to a number of technical and financial problems.

Bushehr, which is Iran's first nuclear power plant, operates under the full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.