Iran building new nuclear reactor despite tensions over its program

Eslam Mohammed

Iran began pouring concrete for a new reactor at the Bushehr power plant, despite tensions over its nuclear program.

Workers began construction of a new nuclear reactor on Sunday at Iran’s Bushehr power plant, which plays a key role in Iran’s dispute with the US on enriching uranium.

“Nuclear power provides reliable electricity… and each power plant saves us 11 million barrels of oil or $660 million (€599 million) per year,” Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said in a televised ceremony.

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), and deputy chief of Russia’s nuclear agency, Rosatom, Alexander Lokshin, launched the new stage at a ceremony where concrete was poured for the reactor base.

The reactor is one of two officially under construction since 2017 at the Bushehr site that is around 750 km (460 miles) south of Tehran.

The landmark 2015 nuclear deal Iran signed with six major powers, including Russia, placed restrictions on the sort of nuclear reactor Tehran could develop and its production of nuclear fuel but it did not require Iran to halt its use of nuclear energy for power generation.

“In a long term vision until 2027-2028, when these projects are finished, we will have 3,000 megawatts of nuclear plant-generated electricity,” Salehi said at the ceremony.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected claims made by the US and Israel that a stockpile of nuclear material had been discovered on an undeclared site outside Tehran.

“We don’t accept this and we condemn these efforts,” ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said. “Reopening a case which has been already resolved and closed is not compatible with any laws, regulations or agreements.”

For his part, researcher in Iranian affairs, Mohammad Alaeddin, believed that the nuclear agreement is ended and the next two months may see Iran’s declaration of a complete exit from the nuclear agreement if Britain, France and Germany do not meet Tehran’s economic ambitions.

He said in statements to the reference, that the Iranian regime shows that it is on its way to return nuclear at an accelerated pace towards the pre-conclusion of the nuclear agreement in July 2015, especially after the new threats echoed by the spokesman of the Iranian Nuclear Energy Organization, Behrouz Kamalundi.

The researcher in Iranian affairs said that the nuclear file is getting more and more difficult day after day because of Tehran’s determination to strengthen its negotiating position before the West