Iran plugs first nuclear power plant into grid
Thứ ba, 6/9/2011 | 08:55 GMT+7
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Iran's first nuclear power plant has finally begun to provide electricity to the national grid, official media reported on September 4, a long-delayed milestone in the nuclear ambitions of a country the West fears is covertly try to develop atomic bombs.<br />
</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">“The Atomic Energy Agency announced that atomic electricity from Bushehr power plant joined the national grid with a power of around 60 megawatts on September 3," the official news agency IRNA reported.<br />
<br />
The start-up will come as a relief to Tehran after many years of delays and false starts at the plant it hopes will show the world it has joined the nuclear club despite sanctions imposed in an attempt to curb its disputed nuclear progress.<br />
<br />
The US$1-billion, 1,000-megawatt Bushehr plant will be formally inaugurated on September 12, by which time it will be operating at 40 percent capacity, Hamid-Khadem Qaemi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), told the state-controlled Arabic language TV station al-Alam.<br />
<br />
The plant on the Gulf coast is the first of what Iran says will become a network of nuclear facilities that will reduce its reliance on its abundant fossil fuels and is a showpiece of what it says is a purely peaceful atomic programme.<br />
<br />
Iran says it is enriching uranium only to lower levels suitable for power plant fuel or medical and agricultural uses.<br />
<br />
The UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) has urged Iran to join the 1996 Convention on Nuclear Safety, a treaty designed to improve safeguards after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.<br />
<br />
<br />
</span></p>
Source: VOVNews/Reuters