TEHRAN – The concrete-casting operation of the new phase of the Bushehr nuclear power plant started on Sunday,  

The concrete-casting operation was launched in a ceremony attended by Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) chief Ali Akbar Salehi, a number of state and provincial officials, parliamentarians and manager of Russian companies active in the site. 

“Cementing process of the nuclear reactor of the Bushehr power plant’s phase II is one of the key processes and an important event in the site by which we have taken a giant stride towards development of nuclear power plants in the country,” Mahmoud Jafari, the executive manager for the new phases of the Bushehr nuclear plant, told reporters on the sidelines of the ceremony.

Jafari further explained, “Digging operation and transferring materials out of the site was launched 3 years ago, and now, foundation operation was completed after 2.5 million cubic meters of digging, 2,500 tons of reinforcement, stabilizing soil and pilling operation by rigs.”

“After resumption of cementing operation, the Bushehr power plant will be registered in the list of under-construction plants,” he said, adding that cementing operation will be simultaneously carried out with reinforcement and foundation operations in phase III.

Jafari went on to say that a sum of 8 percent of the implantation operation of the phase III of the power plant has been completed. “Based on our plan, concrete-casting operation in the phase III will start on December 9.”

“These two under-construction power plant units should be constructed in 10-year-long period within the framework of nuclear safety structure,” the executive manager of the nuclear plant’s development projects said. 

He laid emphasis on the state-of-the-art technologies utilized in construction of the news units.

The manager added, “A sum of 11 Iranian construction and executive companies that have employed 10,000 workers, technicians and engineers will build the units.”  

Iran's first Russian-built nuclear power plant in Bushehr started operating in 2011 and reached full capacity the following year.

The project for Bushehr-2 was presented by Russian nuclear experts in Tehran in September, 2014.

In February 2017, Salehi said two new nuclear reactors are scheduled to be built in the city of Bushehr. 

     
MJ/PA