Russia and Iran announced a deal today that will provide Iran with up to eight nuclear reactors. The reactors will be built by Russia’s state nuclear agency, Rosatom.
The so-called Bushehr Phase II consists of two reactors at the same Persian Gulf coast site as the existing 1,000 megawatt reactor Russia launched last year.
The countries also agreed to expand the total number of reactors in Bushehr to four, and construct “four similar power units on another site in Iran,” the location of which is yet to be provided by Tehran, Rosatom said in a statement.
The Wall Street Journal (Google link) adds:
No schedule was given for any of the planned construction. Rosatom said that all the plants would be operated as Bushehr currently is, under safeguards mandated by the International Atomic Energy Agency, with the nuclear fuel produced in Russia and shipped back there for reprocessing after use. Moscow and western capitals have insisted on such a structure to eliminate suspicions any of the nuclear material could be diverted for a weapons program.
Russia’s construction of the first plant at Bushehr–Iran’s only operating nuclear power reactor–stretched over decades amid tensions over Iran’s suspected weapons ambitions. When Moscow completed construction in 2011, officials said talks were underway with Tehran to deliver more reactors, though details weren’t announced. Rosatom formally turned over operational control of the plant to Iran in 2013.
Questions over the spent nuclear fuel, which by law is to be returned to Russia, are raising concerns that Iran could divert it for weapons use. Iran has violated the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, triggering six United Nations Security Council resolutions and related sanctions.
The reactor deal is apparently the first deal in a sanctions-busting trade initiative announced between the two countries in September. At the time, the planned deal was described as “Plan B for Iran if the negotiations fail.”
The deal, which would increase the number of reactors located at Bushehr on the Persian Gulf coast to four, also likely raises safety concerns with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). GCC members were concerned over the safety of the first Bushehr reactor in the wake of an earthquake that measured 6.1 on the Richter scale in early 2013. Iran brushed off the GCC’s concerns as “baseless.”
[Photo: Nuclear Threat Initiative / YouTube ]