Report: Bushehr nuclear plant enters final testing phase
Iran, Russian contractor said to be gearing for final testing of nuclear power facility ahead of planned 2013 activation date
Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant has reportedly entered its final testing phase ahead of its planned 2013 launch date, the Tehran Times reported Saturday.
Fereydoun Abbasi, director of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, announced that Tehran's experts are "making the necessary preparations for the handover of the power plant by the Russian contractor to Iranian experts.
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“After various tests and experiments at the Bushehr power plant, we will begin the preliminary launch of the project," he said, adding that the power plant is meant to go online in late December or early 2013.
Valeryi Limarenko, of NIAEP – the Russian nuclear company that manages the construction of the plant by Atomstroyexport, was quoted in late October as saying that the handoff of Bushehr may be rescheduled for March 2013.
Limarenko also noted at the time that at least 300 Russian personnel would stay in Iran to help maintain the nuclear power plant.
The Bushehr facility was introduced onto Iran’s national power grid in September 2011.
The plant currently generates 1,000 megawatts of nuclear electricity.
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