Russia firm says work on Iran nuclear plant going as scheduled
Updated: Friday, November 20, 2009
19:25GMT—2:25PM/EST
Washington, 20 November (WashingtonTV)—Russia’s state nuclear engineering firm, Atomstroyexport, said on Friday that Russian and Iranian officials have agreed that work to launch Iran’s first nuclear power plant is going as scheduled.
The firm’s chief, Dan Belenky, met today in Moscow with a senior official at Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Ahmad Fayazbakhsh, to discuss the progress of work at the Bushehr plant, reports the RIA Novosti news agency.
The Iranian official “stressed that Russian and Iranian experts are working in a team to launch the Bushehr power plant as soon as possible,” Atomstroyexport said in a statement.
The startup of the plant, in the southern port city of Bushehr, has been plagued by delays since Russia took over work on the facility in the mid-1990s.
Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said on Monday that the plant would not come online at the end of this year as planned, because of “technical issues”.
Following that announcement, a number of Iranian lawmakers accused Moscow of “playing games” with Tehran, and said Russia could not be trusted.
Source: RIA Novosti news agency
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