Iran begins loading nuke reactor
Tehran, Oct. 26: Iran began loading fuel into the reactor core of its Russian-built nuclear power plant on Tuesday, a move which brings the facility closer to generating electricity after decades of delay.
In a report from the plant in the southern city of Bushehr, the Arabic-language Al-Alam channel of public television said engineers “started loading the core of the Bushehr power plant with the nuclear fuel on Tuesday”.
The nuclear material is provided by Moscow which also recovers the spent fuel.
Iran had begun transferring the fuel to the facility on August 21, a process which was described as the “physical launch” of the power plant by Russia.
On October 4, Iran’s atomic chief, Mr Ali Akbar Salehi, said the power plant would be ready to generate electricity by January — two months later than previously announced.
Iran says it needs the plant, which had been under construction from the 1970s before being completed by Russia, to meet growing demand for electricity. But Western governments suspect Iran’s nuclear programme is cover for a drive for an atomic weapons capability, which Tehran denies.
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