Behrouz Kamalvandi who was speaking to Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB Radio program ‘Nuclear Special’ on Saturday, said that the country had plans to build 9 power plants by the end of the present 20-year Vision Plan; “we estimate that nuclear power plants will contribute about 10 per cent of total energy consumed nationwide,” he added.
Kamalvandi also believed that nuclear industry was strategic and contributing to other industries and sectors such as health, agriculture, oil and petrochemical industries; “energy is fundamental to any development in economy and industry. Future expediencies calls us to limit unregulated use of fossil fuels to generate electricity; nuclear energy by far the most economically justified energies which has the added advantage of little environmental pollution,” he told the program.
“Despite the foreign media hype over the enrichment of uranium, it is only a small part of the huge industry, but at the same time an important part; in this sector, the country now has achieved much; it is internationally acknowledged, however misguidedly, that any country possessing a nuclear enrichment industry, would succumb to temptations to build a nuclear warhead,” Kamalvandi said, “Iran should work extensively in this strategic sector to join the roost of prominent generators of electricity through nuclear power plants during future 30 or 40 years.”
“Iran’s nuclear power plants are among the safest and secure power plants globally, since all the process is done in a still and concrete thick protective layer underground; it would generate 1,000 mW of electricity which would contribute to a fraction of domestic consumption of energy which borders 44,000 mW on average,” he detailed. “Power plants like Bushehr Nuclear Reactor produce 8 million tons of greenhouse gases less than conventional fossil-fuel power plants, which makes Iran a pioneer in curbing pollution.”
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