15 Jan 2025 13:12

Measures could be taken to expedite construction of 2 units at Bushehr NPP - Rosatom CEO

HANOI. Jan 15 (Interfax) - Russia's state atomic energy corporation Rosatom expects that Moscow and Tehran will be able to take additional steps to speed up the construction of Unit 2 and Unit 3 at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev told Interfax ahead of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's visit to Moscow on January 17.

"The project is being implemented. On the whole, we believe that some additional measures could be taken to accelerate it," Likhachev said after being asked whether the two countries' comprehensive strategic partnership agreement, due to be signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pezeshkian in the Kremlin on Friday, spells out prospects for cooperation in the nuclear power sector.

"We are doing everything we can within our obligations to help them. Unit 2 and Unit 3 of the Bushehr NPP are under construction, but, naturally, we can move forward as fast as the customer permits us due to various reasons," he said.

Speaking at his meeting with Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan in October 2024, Putin said that the construction of the Bushehr NPP's Unit 2 and Unit 3 is one of the key priorities of economic cooperation between Russia and Iran.

Russia handed over Unit 1 of the Bushehr NPP with a capacity of 1,000 MW to Iran in 2013. In 2016, construction began on the second stage (Units 2 and 3). Unit 2 was to be initially completed in 2024, and on Unit 3 in 2026.

As of mid-2021, Iran's debt to Russia related to the construction of the nuclear power plant was about $500 million. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told journalists in the spring of 2023 that the debt related issues had been settled and the debt had effectively been reduced. The sides were then discussing the project's further financing.