ID :
189739
Mon, 06/20/2011 - 10:21
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/189739
The shortlink copeid
Envoy Underlines Safety of Iran's N. Facilities
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran's Residing Representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh reiterated safety of all Iranian nuclear sites and facilities, saying that the country has regarded and implemented all safety codes and standards.
"Nuclear power plants do not create greenhouse gasses, whereas fossil fuel power plants do, and this is one of their advantages," Soltaniyeh said in an interview with MNA.
Three major nuclear accidents have occurred in the world over the past fifty years, namely, the Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979, Chernobyl in the Soviet Union in 1986, and Fukushima in Japan in 2011, he stated.
The Fukushima accident was not due to the earthquake, since the power plants immediately stopped operating at the time of the tremor, as the Japanese had designed them to do in the event of such a natural disaster, but it was the tsunami, for which no safety precautions had been taken, that damaged the installations, Soltaniyeh added.
He went on to say that Iran, in cooperation with the IAEA and its experts, is working on a safety project for the Bushehr nuclear power plant, and the cooperation will continue to ensure the safety of all the nuclear facilities in Iran.
In conclusion, he stated that Iran's nuclear activities would continue, under the supervision of highly skilled experts, since the Iranian parliament has ratified a bill stating that the government must produce 20,000 megawatts of nuclear-generated electricity in the next 20 years.
Meantime, Russian and Iranian officials announced during the last two days that Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant is almost complete, with all work set to finish on schedule.
"We have an agreed schedule, all of the work is in the final stages... We've sent a large group of our specialists to Iran, they are now adjusting the systems," chief of the Russian state-owned nuclear energy company, Rosatom, Sergey Kirienko said.
Under a bilateral agreement, which has received approval from the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA), Russia will initially operate the plant, supplying fuel and taking away the spent fuel for the next two or three years, but will eventually hand over full control to Iran.
Iran's Ambassador to Russia Reza Sajjadi also said that the power station would launch operation in early August.
"Russian engineers have told us that they will be in a position to inaugurate and connect up the plant within the first ten days of August," the envoy said.
The second consignment of fuel for the Bushehr nuclear power plant was delivered from Russia in May.
Iran signed a deal with Russia in 1995, according to which the plant was originally scheduled for completion in 1999. However, the project was repeatedly delayed by the Russian side due to the intense pressure exerted on Moscow by the United States and its western allies. Russia finally completed construction of the plant last summer.
After countless delays, work on the power station, initially a German Siemens project of the early Seventies for the Shah, was completed last November. A series of technical hitches forced the authorities into a series of delays.
On October 26, Iran started injecting fuel into the core of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in the initial phase of launching the nuclear reactor.
"Nuclear power plants do not create greenhouse gasses, whereas fossil fuel power plants do, and this is one of their advantages," Soltaniyeh said in an interview with MNA.
Three major nuclear accidents have occurred in the world over the past fifty years, namely, the Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979, Chernobyl in the Soviet Union in 1986, and Fukushima in Japan in 2011, he stated.
The Fukushima accident was not due to the earthquake, since the power plants immediately stopped operating at the time of the tremor, as the Japanese had designed them to do in the event of such a natural disaster, but it was the tsunami, for which no safety precautions had been taken, that damaged the installations, Soltaniyeh added.
He went on to say that Iran, in cooperation with the IAEA and its experts, is working on a safety project for the Bushehr nuclear power plant, and the cooperation will continue to ensure the safety of all the nuclear facilities in Iran.
In conclusion, he stated that Iran's nuclear activities would continue, under the supervision of highly skilled experts, since the Iranian parliament has ratified a bill stating that the government must produce 20,000 megawatts of nuclear-generated electricity in the next 20 years.
Meantime, Russian and Iranian officials announced during the last two days that Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant is almost complete, with all work set to finish on schedule.
"We have an agreed schedule, all of the work is in the final stages... We've sent a large group of our specialists to Iran, they are now adjusting the systems," chief of the Russian state-owned nuclear energy company, Rosatom, Sergey Kirienko said.
Under a bilateral agreement, which has received approval from the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA), Russia will initially operate the plant, supplying fuel and taking away the spent fuel for the next two or three years, but will eventually hand over full control to Iran.
Iran's Ambassador to Russia Reza Sajjadi also said that the power station would launch operation in early August.
"Russian engineers have told us that they will be in a position to inaugurate and connect up the plant within the first ten days of August," the envoy said.
The second consignment of fuel for the Bushehr nuclear power plant was delivered from Russia in May.
Iran signed a deal with Russia in 1995, according to which the plant was originally scheduled for completion in 1999. However, the project was repeatedly delayed by the Russian side due to the intense pressure exerted on Moscow by the United States and its western allies. Russia finally completed construction of the plant last summer.
After countless delays, work on the power station, initially a German Siemens project of the early Seventies for the Shah, was completed last November. A series of technical hitches forced the authorities into a series of delays.
On October 26, Iran started injecting fuel into the core of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in the initial phase of launching the nuclear reactor.
