BAKU, Azerbaijan, Apr. 12
By Elnur Bagishov – Trend:
Nuclear power plants with 100-megawatt-hour reactors can be built on areas in Iran, where electricity consumption is high, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said, Trend reports citing the IRNA.
According to him, because a 1,000-megawatt-hours plant like the Bushehr NPP needs a large amount of water to cool its reactors. Also, large funds are required for the construction of large nuclear power plants.
The official added that at present, a company designing small reactors operates under the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. These reactors are better than large reactors in terms of safety. Iran will produce two small reactors together with China.
"Iran's nuclear power plants are estimated to generate 8,000-20,000 megawatt-hours of electricity. At present, Iran's Bushehr NPP generates 1,000 megawatts of electricity, and nuclear power units are being built to generate more 2,000 megawatt hours of electricity,” he said.
Salehi noted that the initial amount required for the construction of a nuclear power plant is high. The cost of a nuclear power plant that will generate 1,000 megawatt hours of electricity is 10 times higher than the cost of a plant that will generate electricity using fossil fuels. However, its life is also 70 times longer than those stations.
The chairman also said that the revenues of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant is about $600-$700 million a year. However, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran is paid $70 million a year. This is due to the Iranian economy.
“The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has borrowed 3 trillion rials (about $71.4 million) from the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) to supply fuel for the Bushehr nuclear power plant. However, if the electricity generated at the Bushehr NPP is exported, the organization will not need a government budget, as well as, it will be able to manage 20,000 employees and build a new plant,” he added.
Reportedly, the electricity generated by the 1st power unit of Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant began to be transported to Iran's electricity network on September 3, 2011. The first unit of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant has generated about 43 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity from the date of commissioning to the September of last year. The generated electricity was transported to the country's electricity network.
The Nuclear Power Production and Development Company of Iran and Russia's Atomstroyexport JSC signed a contract in 2014 on the construction of the 2nd and 3rd units of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Iran. The construction of two blocks of this power plant began in 2016. If the 2nd and 3rd units of Bushehr NPP are put into operation, 1,050 megawatts of electricity can be produced.
