MOSCOW. June 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia and Iran will agree a schedule to complete the first power-producing unit at Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in the near future, a source in the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry told Interfax on Wednesday.
"Iranian Vice President for Atomic Energy Qolam Reza Aqazadeh-Khoi is to visit Moscow in the second half of July and will agree a schedule for the final stage of work with the Atomic Ministry," the source said.
At the same time, Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev told Interfax on Tuesday that the deadline for finishing work on the Bushehr plant has been put back from 2004 until 2005. He explained that this was due to technical difficulties being encountered by Russian specialists, who have had to change the design of the first power-producing unit after Germany's Siemens withdrew from the project. The minister stressed that an inspection of energy equipment supplied earlier showed a lot of it to be damaged.
The source in the Atomic Energy Ministry said that at the moment cooperation between Russia and Iran is restricted exclusively to the construction of the nuclear power plant in Bushehr, under the full control of the International Atomic Energy Association. He reminded that IAEA inspectors carry out regular inspections that confirm that "this cooperation is being carried out within the framework of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and corresponds with all IAEA guarantees."
According to the Atomic Ministry, in 2002 alone IAEA inspectors carried out about 60 inspections of Iranian nuclear installations, including the first unit at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and no violations were uncovered.
Russian is implementing the project to build the plant under an intergovernmental agreement. The contract is worth over USD800m.