BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 6. The first concrete works on the nuclear island of Karun NPP on the bank of the Karun River, located in the southwest of Iran, will begin in the fall, Vice President of Iran and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami said, Trend reports.
He claims that Iran and France signed an agreement on the construction of the Karun NPP even before the Islamic Revolution in Iran (1979). However, after the Islamic Revolution, work on the project was completely halted due to France's refusal.
Eslami added that the Karun NPP was put on the agenda in 2023 as one of the main plans to implement the document to build a nuclear power plant with a capacity of 20,000 megawatts of electricity in Iran.
“Iran is lagging by about 50 years in building nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants will be built at a rapid pace to compensate for this backwardness,” he said.
To note, it was decided last year (2023) to build a nuclear power plant in Iran with a production potential of 20,000 megawatts. Accordingly, relevant companies have been established in the country. The construction of NPPs is currently ongoing in five provinces of Iran.
Meanwhile, the only operating NPP in Iran is the 1st unit of the Bushehr NPP. The first power unit of the Bushehr NPP started operating in 2011. In 2013, the Russian Atomic Company transferred the operation of the unit to an Iranian company. This unit has produced a maximum of 1,000 megawatt-hours of electricity since 2013.
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