Iran says first nuclear plant begins operating

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Iran says first nuclear plant begins operating

By Farhad Pouladi (AFP) – 17 hours ago

TEHRAN — Iran said Saturday its first atomic power plant built by Russia in

Bushehr has begun operations, ahead of a new round of talks with Western powers

over the country's controversial nuclear drive.

" Without any propaganda and fuss we sealed the cover of the reactor and all the

fuel rods are in the core of the reactor, " atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi was

quoted as saying by Fars news agency, without specifying when.

But Salehi said the authorities in the Islamic republic " hope that electricity

produced at the Bushehr plant will be connected to the national grid in a month

or two. "

Iran says it needs the plant, which had been under construction since the 1970s

in the southern port city of Bushehr before it was completed by Russia, to meet

growing demand for electricity.

But Western governments suspect Iran's nuclear programme masks a drive for an

atomic weapons capability, an ambition Tehran has steadfastly denied.

Salehi's announcement come ahead of the likely resumption of stalled

negotiations between world powers and Iran on Tehran's controversial nuclear

programme in Geneva on December 5.

EU foreign policy chief Ashton said this week she had received

" informal confirmations " from Iran about the date and location for the talks,

" but I want a formal confirmation. "

Iran and six world powers -- the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain

and Germany -- have agreed to return to the negotiating table for the first time

since October 2009, but two sides diverge on what issues should be on the table.

The world powers want the talks to focus on Iran's uranium enrichment programme

but Tehran wants a wider discussion that includes regional security issues.

Iran is under four sets of UN sanctions over its refusal to suspend uranium

enrichment, the sensitive process which can be used to make nuclear fuel or, in

highly extended form, the fissile core of an atom bomb.

Last month Iran said it has begun loading fuel -- provided by Moscow which also

recovers the spent fuel-- into the reactor core of Bushehr plant, a move which

brings the facility closer to generating electricity after decades of delay.

Iran had begun transferring the fuel to the facility on August 21, a process

which was described as the " physical launch " of the power plant.

On October 4, Salehi said the power plant would be ready to generate electricity

by January -- two months later than previously announced.

The process of loading the fuel has suffered some hiccups, which Salehi has

previously blamed on " severe hot weather " in Bushehr.

Early October, Salehi said a small leak in a pool beside the Bushehr reactor has

delayed the start-up of the nuclear plant and four days ago, he also repeated

previous denials by Iranian officials that an extraordinary computer worm,

Stuxnet, had in any way harmed Iran's nuclear programme.

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