Iran and Russia to sign deal to build 2 nuclear plants

Iran and Russia are preparing to sign an agreement to build two nuclear plants in Iran; Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) quoted an official as saying.

The spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi said that after months of negotiations, “we have reached an agreement to build two new nuclear plants. We hope the agreement will be signed on Monday or Tuesday in Tehran”.

Deputy Director General for International Affairs at Russia’s Agency on Atomic Energy (Rosatom), Nikolai Spassky arrived in Tehran for two-day negotiations with Iranian officials, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported.

Kamalvandi said in March that his country has reached a “preliminary agreement” with Russia to construct the two new nuclear plants.

The two stations will be constructed in the southern Iranian port city of Bushehr, each capable of generating 1,000 megawatts of electricity.

Iran wants to build 20 nuclear plants each capable of generating 1,000 megawatts of electricity. Four plants will be built in Bushehr to diversify its sources of energy and reduce its dependence on oil and gas for domestic consumption.

Iran has the fourth largest oil reserves and the second largest gas reserves in the world.

Intensive negotiations are currently underway between Iran and the P5 +1 group, China, the US, France, Britain, Russia and Germany to guarantee the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear programme and the full lifting of international sanctions. A final agreement is due by July 20.