Ebrahim Rezaei, the spokesperson for the Iranian Parliament’s National Security & Foreign Policy Commission says Iran has signed a contract with Russia to construct eight more nuclear units, four of which will be located in Bushehr, Southern Iran.
Bushehr unit 1, built by Rosatom, began operating in 2011 and reached full capacity the following year. Rosatom subsidiary ASE, which is the general contractor for the Bushehr project, and Nuclear Power Production & Development Company of Iran signed an EPC turnkey contract for construction of two VVER-1000 reactors Bushehr 2&3 in 2014 and preliminary work began at the site in December 2016. In March 2017, construction officially began of the two units, which were then planned to be commissioned in 2024 and 2026. Pouring of first concrete for Bushehr unit 2 took place in November 2019 and they were then scheduled for commissioning in 2025 and 2027.
In October 2023, Iran poured concrete for a new section of Bushehr 2. The Head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami, said that the government’s support had accelerated the construction of the two reactors under deals worth €1.8bn ($1.9bn).
Rezaei said Eslami had noted that the construction of Bushehr 2&3 is being carried out by Iranian companies. “We help as much as we can within the framework of all obligations, said Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev. “The second and third units of the Bushehr NPP are under construction, but, of course, we only can go at the speed that the customer allows us to for various reasons.”
