“Today we launched the project to build the second unit of Bushehr nuclear power plant which marks a new chapter opening in Iran Russia atomic cooperation,” said Ali Akbar Salehi, the Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), on Tuesday.
He made the remarks at noon among reporters in Iranian southern city of Bushehr which homes Iran’s first large-scale nuclear power plant. He made the reamrks on the sidelines of the ceremony which featured nuclear officials from Russia and a number of Iranian lawmakers.
“To construct a 1,000 megawatt nuclear power plant a budget of $5,000 billion is needed which is an expensive price,” highlighted the Iranian vice-president breaking the news that plans have been laid out to generate 20,000 megawatt nuclear energy.
He added that to generate 20,000 megawatt electricity, $100,000 billion investment is required and each 1,000 megawatt power plant brings about a saving of around 11,000,000 barrels of oil.
“The other merit of nuclear power plant is that they reduce emissions and each nuclear power plant with a capacity of 1,000 megawatt prevents an emission of 7 million tons of toxic gases,” reiterated the Iranian chief of atomic energy.
He continued that construction of small and medium nuclear power plants with Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) is much more cost efficient for Iran.
The Iranian official reassured that Iran will take advantage of Russians’ capabilities in the field of nuclear energy industry and especially in construction of small and medium-sized plants.
During the same ceremony marking the launch of construction of the second unit of Bushehr Power plants, the Head of the power plant, Hossein Ghaffari, said, “Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant has generated 25 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity since it went on line in 2011, which is equivalent to consuming 6 billion liters of fossil fuels in power stations to produce the same amount of power.”
"Liquid fuels worth $2 billion would be needed to generate the said volume of electricity in fossil fuel-fired power plants," Mr. Ghaffari added.
Pointing to high-tech installations in the nuclear power plant, Ghaffari noted that all equipment complies with international standards and there is no concern regarding security issues.
According to the official, the production capacity of the complex stands at one gigawatt and 220,000 tons of water are directed toward the plant from the Persian Gulf per hour to keep the reactor cool.
"One-third of the power plants' apparatus must be rehabilitated after generating 7 million kilowatt-hours of electricity," he said.
The second unit of Bushehr nuclear power plant is expected to take 10 years to complete. The third unit is also going to be built near the second one.
In November 2014, Nuclear Power Production and Development Company of Iran (NPPD) and Russia’s Atomstroiexport signed two contracts to work on parts of the project.
A total of $10 billion has been allocated for the construction of the two units.
The capacity of the second phase is expected to stand above 1,000 megawatts (MW). The total capacity of the two units of WWER-1,000 (Water-Water Energetic Reactor) will be 2,100 megawatts.
YNG/ 4130623
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