Bushehr NPP personnel working despite earth tremors - contractor
MOSCOW. April 9 (Interfax) - Earth tremors could be felt near the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran on Tuesday, but the personnel continued working as usual, a spokesman for the Bushehr project's contactor Atomstroyexport told Interfax.
Radiation levels are normal, he said.
The nuclear power plant's designer, OAO Atomenergoproekt, told Interfax that the Bushehr nuclear power plan can withstand Magnitude 9 earth quakes at the maximum.
Two earthquakes hit the territory near the Bushehr nuclear power plant on Tuesday, earlier reports said. A Magnitude 6.3 tremor was registered 90 kilometers from the city, and a Magnitude 5.4 quake occurred 60 kilometers from Bushehr.
The 1,000-megawatt Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant is located on the shores of the Persian Gulf. Construction was launched by Germany in the 1970s, but was subsequently frozen. The Russian company Atomstroyexport took over the project in the 1990s. The deadline for its commissioning has been put off many times.
The nuclear power plant was fully commissioned in August 2012, but it was suspended in October. Fuel was re-loaded into the reactor in November.