Ahmadinejad says Iran nuclear plant to start on time, RT reports

Bloomberg: Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant will start on time and is not being delayed because of disagreements with Russia, RT television reported, citing an interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Bloomberg

By Scott Rose

Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant will start on time and is not being delayed because of disagreements with Russia, RT television reported, citing an interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“I have already talked to President Dmitry Medvedev, who told me there is no obstacle to the plant launching its operations at the scheduled time,” Ahmadinejad was cited as saying by the state-run, English-language station.

Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear holding company, has been finishing work on the 1,000-megawatt Bushehr station and has agreed to supply uranium to power the reactor and remove spent fuel. The project, which has faced numerous delays, was halted earlier this year after the reactor was switched on in August 2010.

Iran probably won’t ask Russia for any further help building nuclear plants because of delays at Bushehr, Hossein Amiri Khamkani, a member of the parliamentary committee formed to review the status of the plant, said Aug. 8.

Ahmadinejad said Bushehr was expected to be restarted by the end of the year. The plant may begin producing power in August, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said last month.