Iran Plans to Build Small N. Power Plants for Desalination Purposes

(FNA)- Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi announced the country's plans to build small nuclear power plants in 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," Kamalvandi said Saturday.

Stressing that the AEOI seriously pursues 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 can 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.