Iran to build new power plant in Bushehr by 2014

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 on Sunday, quoting the head of the country’s Atomic Energy Organization, the news agency al-arabiya has reported. “Iran will build a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in Bushehr next year,” the television quoted Fereydoon Abbasi Davani as saying. He was referring to the Iranian calendar year running from March 2013 to March 2014. The current Bushehr nuclear plant was started by German engineers in the 1970s, before Iran’s Islamic revolution, and was completed by Russia, which continues to help keeping it running and provides fuel for it. In addition, Iran has a research reactor operating in Tehran that is used to make medical isotopes for patients with cancer and other illnesses. A new Bushehr plant would boost electricity production in Iran, which has some of the world’s biggest reserves.