Engineering survey begins at site of future Bushehr-2 nuke-plant in Iran

Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.22

By – Trend:

Russian specialists began an engineering survey in January 2015 at the site of the future second and third power blocks of the Iranian Bushehr-2 nuclear power plant, work is to be completed by the autumn of 2015, Russian Ambassador to Iran Levan Jagaryan said in an interview with RIA Novosti news agency.

“In pursuance of the contract for an engineering survey and the collection of baseline data on the site of Bushehr-2 nuclear power plant in January 2015, our specialists began work on a platform to construct the new power blocks,” said Jagaryan. “In August, we plan to finish the stage of engineering survey, which will provide the initial data needed to begin the design work.”

He said that the Russian side is interested in the deployment of large-scale works on the site as part of the main contract implementation for the Bushehr-2 project in the autumn of 2015.

“We believe that it is in the interests of both sides,” Jagaryan said.

On November 11, 2014 in Moscow, Russia and Iran signed a protocol to the intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Iran on cooperation in the construction of nuclear power plant on the territory of Iran from August 25, 1992, and an interagency memorandum of understanding to expand cooperation in the field of using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

The parties intend to cooperate in the construction of eight power blocks with the reactors of Russian VVER (the Russian version of the Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR)) design on a "turnkey" [four power blocks on the site of Bushehr nuclear power plant and four - on another site] on the territory of Iran, according to the protocol.

At the same time, the parties intend to make the fullest possible participation of Iranian companies and organizations in all the works related to the construction of new power blocks at the sites, their operation and decommissioning.

The Russian united company NIAEP JSC - Atomstroyexport JSC and the Nuclear Power Production and Development Company of Iran signed a contract to construct two new power blocks of the Bushehr Nuclear power plant. The contract provides for the possibility of expanding the station up to four power blocks.

The project for the construction of two new blocks of Bushehr will meet the highest, the so-called post-fukushima safety requirements. Two advanced power blocks with VVER reactor and capacity of 1000 MW of the "3 plus" generation, which has all the necessary safety systems, will be built at the station.