Iran plans to produce 2,000 MW of nuclear electricity this calendar year:Iranian official

TEHRAN,April 30(MNA) – Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Director Fereydoun Abbasi said that Iran is trying to produce 2,000 megawatts of nuclear electricity by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, which started on March 21. “At present, the necessary infrastructure and the required equipment are being prepared in the country, and if there is no shortage of funds, we will be able to meet this commitment this year,” Abbasi said in a meeting with the personnel of a research center in the city of Bonab in the northwestern province of East Azarbaijan on Sunday. He also said, “So far, 1,000 megawatts of nuclear electricity have been generated in the country.” The Iranian parliament has passed a law that calls for the administration to build enough nuclear plants to generate 20,000 megawatts of nuclear electricity in five years’ time. The Bushehr power station, which is located near the port of Bushehr on the coast of the Persian Gulf, is Iran’s first nuclear power plant. The plant was initially launched on August 21, 2010 when engineers loaded the first of 163 fuel rods into the reactor under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency. It started adding electricity to the national grid on September 3, 2011 and was officially opened in a ceremony on September 12, 2011. The plant, which has the capacity to generate 1,000 megawatts of power, is currently operating on trial.