Iran wants to speed up building of first unit Bushehr nuclear power plant

Iran thinks necessary heightening Russian control over building the first unit of the Bushehr nuclear power station on the Iranian coast of the Persian Gulf.

The Iranian side said this at a meeting in Moscow between Russian Nuclear Power Minister Alexander Rumyantsev, Iranian Ambassador Gholam Reza Shafei and representatives of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation, the press service of the Russian Ministry for the Nuclear Power Industry says in a communique.

Construction of the first nuclear power unit of the Bushehr facility has been discussed and a detailed building schedule coordinated. The sides have agreed to hold in Teheran in January 2004 a coordinating conference involving Alexander Rumyantsev and the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation.

Agreement has been reached to set up a working group of representatives of the two countries' foreign ministries, the Russian Ministry for the Nuclear Power Industry and the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation. The working group will discuss the possibility of Moscow-Teheran cooperation in building the second nuclear power unit.

In addition, representatives of Russia and Iran have discussed the conclusion of a protocol and the making of amendments into the intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in building a nuclear power plant in Iran as regards return to Russia of wasted nuclear fuel from the Bushehr plant. They have voiced interest in the earliest signing of the protocol, said the ministerial press service.