Iranian nuclear official stresses AEOI's precise efforts in identifying new power plant's sites

Head of Iran’s Nuclear Safety Center Naser Rastkhah reiterated the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI)'s accuracy in identifying locations for the construction of at least 10 new nuclear power plants in the country. “Geological studies have been conducted in various regions of the country for the construction of new atomic power plants. A number of potential sites have been identified for the launch of new nuclear power plants in the country, and preliminary surveys have been carried out in order to select the construction site of these plants,” Rastkhah told reporters on Monday on the sidelines of the ceremony to mark Iran’s official taking over of the first unit of the Bushehr nuclear power plant from Russia. He also described the selection of sites as one of the most significant subjects concerning the construction of atomic power plants, adding that disregard for this issue and other miscalculations led to an irreversible disaster in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 11, 2011. On Monday, Head of AEOI Ali Akbar Salehi announced that Tehran and Moscow have agreed on the construction of more nuclear power plants once the Russian contractor is through with the full launch of the Bushehr power plant and delivers its full control to Iran. "Certain agreements have been made at the Iran-Russian Joint Economic Commission meetings for building the second unit of the new nuclear power plant," Salehi told reporters in Bushehr city. The Iranian experts on Monday afternoon received the temporary operational control of the Bushehr nuclear power plant from the Russian contractor after signing a relevant protocol. Salehi said that the full (everlasting) operational control of the plant will be delivered to Iran after a two-year-warranty or 7,000 hours of operation. Salehi, Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian, and the Head of the Russian contractor company attended the ceremony in Bushehr which was held to mark the endorsement of a protocol for the temporary delivery control of the Bushehr nuclear power plant to Iran. The power plants' temporary control also was delivered to Iran right after the endorsement of the protocol. Late in August, Head of the Bushehr nuclear power plant Hossein Derakhshandeh announced that "the Bushehr power plant is now in the operational phase to produce safe and secure electricity". "Once the control of the Bushehr nuclear power plant is delivered to the Iranian experts in the next two months, the plant will start industrial operation phase (meaning a full capacity operation)," he added. In relevant remarks in August, Head of the Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation Sergey Kiriyenko said that his company is ready to transfer the full operational control of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant to the IAEO. “The state company (Rosatom) will soon sign the documents to transfer the full operational control of the Bushehr nuclear power plant to Iran,” Kiriyenko said. The Russian official underlined that Bushehr nuclear power plant is currently operating at 100-percent capacity and the process of preparing it for transfer to the project originator (Iran) is concluding. Rosatom's construction arm, Atomstroyeksport, took over construction of Bushehr nuclear power plant after a German company pulled out of the project after the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. The Islamic Republic signed the Bushehr contract with Russia in 1995 and the nuclear power plant reached its full capacity by August 2012. The Bushehr nuclear power plant is located about 18 kilometers South of the provincial capital.