Iran in Talks with China to Build 2 More N. Power Plants

(FNA)- Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said Tehran is conducting negotiations with Beijing to construct two 100-MW nuclear power plants.

"We are in talks with the Chinese over the construction of two 100-MW power plants," Salehi said, addressing AEOI staff in Tehran on Wednesday.

He also referred to the contract signed with Russia on building two other nuclear power plants, and said, "God willing, the construction work will start this year."

Salehi expressed the hope that 4 new nuclear power plants would start workshop operations in the next 3 to 4 years in Iran as well.

He also referred to Tehran's achievements in nuclear talks with the world powers, and said, "They failed to materialize all their objectives, at least in technical aspects."

In relevant remarks in April, AEOI Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi announced that Iran and China would partner in the construction of nuclear power plants.

"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.

"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.

Also in April, 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.