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Iran plans to step up nuclear cooperation with Russia

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MOSCOW, September 12 (RIA Novosti commentator Tatyana Sinitsyna) - The Iranian government is planning to expand cooperation with Russia, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Gholamreza Agazadeh told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Monday.

Earlier, Agazadeh discussed with Alexander Rumyantsev, the head of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency, the progress of the construction by Russian experts of the first power-generating unit at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) on the shore of the Persian Gulf. Rumyantsev once again assured Agazadeh that the first unit, VVER-1000, would be commissioned on schedule, no later than the end of 2006.

Experts said the construction stage was 95% complete, with the reactor's availability level at 80% and the last items of equipment being delivered.

Rumyantsev believes that the Russian-Iranian cooperation is quite proper. "The international law on the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes and the Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency provide for this stating that nuclear powers should assist non-nuclear ones if the latter wish to develop peaceful nuclear programs," he explained.

The parties earlier agreed on Russia's supplying of nuclear fuel for the power- generating unit and on the return of nuclear waste to Russia.

Iran is planning to build 20 new NPPs to achieve an eventual total output of 20,000 megawatts. The Iranian parliament ratified the relevant draft law in early 2005.

Although Russian experts would be delighted to build all of the plants, no contracts on the construction of new nuclear reactors have been signed between Moscow and Tehran. The mutual intent to continue cooperation was expressed in the form of a concept without a feasibility study or calculations.

Atomstroiexport, Russia's monopoly exporter of nuclear power equipment and services, considered several construction scenarios for an Iranian NPP. For example, it considered the possibility of picking up where Germany's Siemens left off at a half-damaged second unit or demolishing it and starting from scratch. Russian experts also considered building an NPP in a different location, near the town of Ahvaz, not far from the Iran-Iraq border. However, the project to construct an NPP in Bushehr, equipped with VVER-1000 units, appeared to be the most advantageous in terms of energy production costs. The VVER-1000 is believed to be one of the world's most reliable units, meeting current security standards.

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