China to Build Nuclear Power Plants for Iran

Iran and China will partner in the construction of nuclear power plants, Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi announced, FNA reported.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran plans to produce at least 190,000 SWUs (Separative Work Units) of nuclear fuel at the industrial scale, while we also think about 1,000,000 SWUs, which will be needed to fuel 5 power plants like Bushehr (nuclear power plant),” Kamalvandi said, addressing a meeting dubbed as ‘an Analysis of Lausanne Statement’ in Tehran on Tuesday.

“This is the reason why we have inked an agreement with the Russians to construct two nuclear power plants for the generation of electricity while the Chinese will also enter this arena soon,” he added.

Elsewhere, Kamalvandi referred to the contents of the Lausanne nuclear statement issued by Iran and the world powers on April 2, and said based on the statement, Iran has accepted little limitations on its Research and Development (R&D) program, which will come to an end after a 10-year period.

Noting that based on the statement, the Fordo uranium enrichment facility in Central Iran will be kept intact, he said that over 1,000 centrifuges will remain at Fordo.

On Saturday, Kamalvandi announced the country’s plans to build small nuclear power plants on the rims of the Persian Gulf to desalinate water.

“The AEOI plans to build small power plants in the Southern parts of the country for desalination purposes. Construction of such power plants are on the agenda and will be materialized in the next few years,” the spokesman said.

Stressing that the AEOI seriously pursued building of large nuclear power plants too, he said, “At present, the world is moving towards the construction of small power plants since they can have different applications.”

Kamalvandi said that two or three small nuclear power plants could also be built beside each other and form a mid-size power plant.

Kamalvandi announced in December that the AEOI had started building two new nuclear power plants in the Southern province of Bushehr.

“We have entered the executive phase of the construction of these two nuclear power plants based on the contract signed between Tehran and Moscow in March to construct the plants,” he said.

In March 2014, Russia’s Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation and the AEOI reached an agreement to construct at least two more nuclear power plants in Bushehr.

According to Kamalvandi, the agreement is part of a 1992 deal between the two countries on further nuclear cooperation.

Under the agreement, the new facilities will be built next to the first unit of the Bushehr nuclear power plant and each will have the capacity to produce at least 1,000 megawatts of electricity, Kamalvandi said, adding that the deal also includes the construction of two desalination units.

R.S