IRANIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS CRITICIZE RUSSIA’S DECISION TO POSTPONE BUSHEHR NUCLEAR STATION’S LAUNCH

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
20.11.2009 18:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Iranian Energy Commission will study Russian
activities at the Bushehr Nuclear Station due to delays in the plant’s
launch, the Mehr news agency reported today.

"We expect serous results at the Iranian nuclear station by the end
of year, but the launch will not take place," Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Shmatko told journalists earlier in Moscow.

The station’s launch at full capacity has been temporarily postponed.

Russian and Iranian experts started trials at the station in February.

Officials from both countries said the station will be put into
exploitation in 2009. Bushehr will operate on Russian enriched uranium
as opposed to fuel produced in Iran.

Iranian parliamentary representatives criticized Russia’s decision
to postpone the plant’s launch, saying they will study the activities
of Russian experts at the Bushehr Nuclear Station.

The Iranian-Russian contract for the construction of the Bushehr
Nuclear Station was signed in 1995 in Tehran. The contract’s total
value is $1 billion. The construction was initially to finish by Jan.

8, 1999. Ten years have passed, but the station is still not ready
to open. The Russian AtomStroyExport company is building the plant,
Trend News reported.