MOSCOW (AFP) - The start-up of the first reactor at Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant will be ""irreversible"" by February next year, a senior Russian nuclear official was quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency as saying Monday.

""Between December 2008 and February 2009 various technical measures will be carried out... that will make the physical start-up process of the first Bushehr reactor irreversible,"" the report quoted the head of the Russian company working on the facility, Atomstroiexport, as saying.
Atomstroiexport president Leonid Reznikov said he had traveled to Iran earlier this month to check on progress in construction of the plant, ITAR-TASS said.
He said further high-level meetings between Russian and Iranian officials would be held September 29.