Operations to equip the workshop for the construction of Karoun Nuclear Power Plant have commenced in Darkhovein City, Shadegan County, Khuzestan Province, and contracts for supplying heavy equipment have been finalized with domestic industries, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said.
“The executive operation of the plant with a capacity of 2,000 megawatts started two months ago, which will become fully operational in eight years,” said Mohammad Eslami. “Based on the schedule, the power station will initially start generating 300 MW of electricity,” he added.
The power plant will be constructed by Iranian experts and engineers with the help of domestic knowledge-based firms and manufacturers. Eslami noted that the plan is to build an all-Iranian power plant in accordance with international standards in the near future.
Estimated to cost $2 billion, the power station, built on a 50-hectare plot near Karoun River, will curb the flaring of gas that can be used as feedstock in petrochemical plants to produce value-added goods.
The development of nuclear energy contributes to the growth of research and national intellectual potential.
Currently, only one nuclear power plant is operating in Bushehr Province. The first unit of Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant with a capacity of 1,050 MW is operational and the construction of two more units with the same capacity is on the AEOI agenda.
In the last nine years, over 52 billion kilowatt hours of electricity were produced by the plant and injected into the power grid of the country. The generation of nuclear power has helped save fossil fuel equivalent to 85 million barrels of oil.
Iran has started the reinforcement of the walls of the reactor of the second unit with concrete.
