The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) said Iranian officials have signed an agreement with Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear power company, to build at least four nuclear power plants in Iran.
The $25-billion deal announced September 26 comes two days after Rosatom said officials said they had signed a memorandum of understanding to advance construction of nuclear power technology in Iran. Rosatom on Wednesday did not disclose the number of reactors it would build, saying only it would work with Iran on construction of small nuclear power plants.
The Moscow Times news service said the deal was signed just hours before more United Nations’ sanctions are expected to be placed on Iran, including on its nuclear program. The agreement comes as European officials are prepared to institute so-called “snapback sanctions” on Iran, related to the 2015 deal about Iran’s nuclear program. Britain, France and Germany triggered the sanctions last month, accusing Iran of failing to adhere to its commitments under the agreement.
China and Russia at a United Nations’ Security Council session on Friday offered a draft resolution to allow another six months for talks, though most political analysts have said it is not likely to have enough support to pass.
Adding Nuclear Generation Capacity
Iranian state television on Friday reported that “A deal for the construction of four nuclear power plants with a value of $25 billion in Sirik, Hormozgan was signed between the Iran Hormoz company and Rosatom.” Iran currently has just one operating nuclear power plant. The 1-GW Bushehr facility is located in the southern part of the country. IRNA reported that each of the four new reactors would have 1,255 MW of generation capacity. No timeline was reported for that construction.
Construction is continuing at two new units at Bushehr, work that began in 2019 and 2020. Those Russian-designed units, which are VVER-1000 reactors, could come online as soon as next year, according to Russian officials.
The latest agreement comes on the heels of a visit to Moscow this week by Mohammad Eslami, Iran’s vice president and head of its nuclear program. Eslami has said at least four future reactors would be located in Bushehr.
Iran has a reported goal of at generating at least 20 GW of electricity from nuclear power by 2040. Russian officials earlier this year said they have a plan to build at least eight reactors in Iran.
—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.
