Russia signs deal to build 2 more nuclear power plants for Iran

The top nuclear officials of Iran and Russia in a meeting in Moscow on Tuesday signed an agreement on the construction of two new nuclear power plants for Iran.
The agreement was signed by Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi and Head of Russia's Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation Sergey Kiriyenko in the Russian capital today.
Salehi, heading a ranking delegation, arrived in Moscow earlier today.
Upon arrival in the Russian capital, Salehi told reporters that he is also due to "discuss mechanisms for nuclear fuel swaps with the Russian side.
Salehi is accompanied by AEOI Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi, his deputies and a number of nuclear experts during his visit to Russia.
Kamalvandi had also announced in June that Salehi would visit Moscow "in the coming months" to ink a cooperation protocol with the Russians on the construction of two new nuclear power plants for Iran.
Kamalvandi said construction of the two new nuclear power plants would start in the current Iranian year (which will end on March 20, 2015).
Salehi has on different occasions announced that Iran is ready to continue its mutual cooperation with Russia in area of civilian nuclear technology.
On February 3, Salehi said that Iran is in talks with Russia on the construction of new nuclear power plants to produce 4,000 megawatts of electricity.
The Islamic Republic signed the Bushehr contract with Russia in 1995 and the nuclear power plant reached its full capacity by August 2012. It is located about 18 kilometers South of the provincial capital.
In March, Rosatom and the AEOI reached an agreement to construct at least two more nuclear power plants in Bushehr, Southern Iran.
Kamalvandi said at the time that the agreement was part of a 1992 deal between the two countries on further nuclear cooperation.
Under the agreement, the new facilities will be built next to the first unit of the Bushehr nuclear power plant and each will have the capacity to produce at least 1,000 megawatts of electricity, Kamalvandi said, adding that the deal also includes the construction of two desalination units.