Russia and Iran broaden the cooperation in the peaceful uses of atomic energy

After the negotiations, Chief Executive Officer of ROSATOM Sergey Kirienko and Vice-President of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali-Akbar Salehi signed the Protocol to the Intergovernmental Agreement between Russia and Iran concerning the cooperation in construction of a nuclear power plant in the territory of Iran of August 25, 1992 and the Interagency Memorandum of Understanding concerning the broadening of the cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy.

Besides, in the presence of Sergey Kirienko and Ali-Akbar Salehi the Contract for construction of two power units of Bushehr Phase II was signed. The document was signed by the Head of the united company NIAEP-ASE and the Head of the Nuclear Power Production and Development Company of Iran (NPPD).

According to the Protocol to the Intergovernmental Agreement between the two countries, the parties intend to cooperate in construction of additional four power units with VVER reactors on the turn-key terms on the site of Bushehr NPP, as well as four similar power units on another site in Iran, which will be provided by the Iranian party later. With this, the parties intend to ensure the maximum possible participation of enterprises and organizations of the Islamic Republic of Iran in all works related to the construction of new power units on the sites, their operation and decommissioning.

The entire construction project of the nuclear power units in Iran, including equipment and nuclear fuel supplies, will be under the IAEA safeguards and fully meet the nuclear nonproliferation regime the same way as during construction of the first power unit of Bushehr NPP.

Under the Protocol, nuclear fuel for the NPPs will be fabricated by the Russian party throughout the entire lifecycle of eight new power units. Spent nuclear fuel will be returned to Russia for reprocessing and storage. The Russian party arranges for training of the Iranian specialists in operation, servicing and corresponding engineering support of NPPs as well as in the field of regulation of nuclear and radiation safety.

According to the text of the signed Memorandum, the partners have confirmed their intent to cooperate in the field of the nuclear fuel cycle and ecology. In particular, in the framework of the broadening of construction of power units to the Russian design in Iran the partners plan to go into the issue of economic expediency and feasibility of fabricating fuel rod components in Iran, which will be used at these power units.