Iran has reloaded fuel in Bushehr nuclear power plant after a temporary removal of it, the semi- official ISNA news agency reported on Wednesday.

Quoting an informed source, the report said that the nuclear fuel was reloaded in the core of the first unit of the power plant and it is ready for operation in full capacity.

The fuel was reloaded on Monday in the presence of the representative of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), according to the report.

On Nov. 16, the IAEA said in a report that Iran unloaded fuel from the reactor core of Bushehr power plant in October and transferred it to a spent fuel pond.

A day later, Iran's permanent representative to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said the unload of the fuel was related to the transfer of responsibility of the operation of the plant from the Russians to Iranian experts.

On Nov. 21, however, Iran denied reports that the Islamic republic temporarily halted the operation of Bushehr nuclear power plant, semi-official Fars news agency reported.

"Don't believe any of these (reports)," Fereidoon Abbasi, head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said. " The work ( concerning the plant) is advancing and everything is all right," he stressed.

In September, Igor Mezenin, the operation chief of the Bushehr nuclear plant's Russian contractor, said that Iran would get full control of 1,000 MW Bushehr nuke plant at the end of 2012 from the Russian contractor.

The reactor of the plant's unit reached its full capacity on Aug. 31.

Construction of the Bushehr plant began in 1975 by several German companies. However, work halted when the United States imposed an embargo on hi-tech supplies to Iran after the 1979 revolution.

Russia signed a contract with Iran to complete the construction in 1998. The construction was postponed several times due to mounting technical and financial challenges and pressure from Washington.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)