Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 12 /Trend/
Iran has reached a high level of cooperation with Russia, which has inspired the Islamic Republic to further cooperation in the nuclear field, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Feredoun Abbasi- Davaniat said at the launching ceremony of Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, Press TV reported.
"We welcome all plans for the development of cooperation between the two countries in the nuclear field, said Abbasi-Davaniat. - After the final launching of the nuclear plant in Bushehr, projects will be prepared for the construction of new nuclear facilities."
He said the use of nuclear energy is an important issue for Iran. "Our goal is to produce 20,000 megawatts of electricity by 2020," said Abbasi- Davaniat.
A pre-launch ceremony of the Bushehr nuclear power plant (NPP) kicked off officially in Iran today.
Iran's FM Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization Feredoun Abbasi- Davani, Energy Minister Majid Namjou, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko and the head of Russia's Nuclear Energy Agency Sergei Kiriyenko attended the ceremony held for pre-launch of Bushehr nuclear power plant.
Bushehr NPP has been connected to Iran's electricity network on Sept. 4 and has supplied about 60 megawatt of electricity to the country's electric network since its connection to the grid.
The final production capacity of Bushehr NPP is 1000 megawatt electricity.
Bushehr is the first nuclear power plant in Iran and throughout the Middle East. The plant began to be built by the German Kraftwerk Union in 1974. In 1980 the contract was terminated during the Western German government's accession to the U.S. embargo on supplying equipment to Iran.
On Aug. 25, 1992, Russia and Iran signed an agreement to continue construction of the nuclear power plant. In January 1995, a contract to complete work on the first power unit was signed, and in 1998 construction management was transferred to AtomStroyExport.
Initially, construction of the station was planned for completion in 1999. Later, the deadlines were repeatedly postponed due to financial and technological challenges.