Iran's Nuclear Saga Enters Final Chapter

Russia has started loading fuel into the reactor at Iran’s first nuclear power plant – a key step in making the Bushehr station operational. But what is the project about? Purely business, or an ace in a political hand?

Following years of delays, the construction of the Bushehr power plant – the major part of which was carried out by Russian engineers – is finally nearing its completion. On August 21, Russian and Iranian specialists are beginning to load uranium-packed fuel rods into the station’s reactor.

On this day “the delivery of nuclear fuel from the storage facility at the site of the Bushehr nuclear power plant into the energy unit at this station will begin. From that moment on, the reactor will be officially classified as a nuclear installation,” said Sergey Novikov, assistant director general of Russian nuclear agency Rosatom. This event marks “the end of the testing stage for all systems built by Russian specialists at the Bushehr nuclear power plant and the beginning of the physical launch phase,” Novikov said, cited Itar-Tass.