Iran is about to start building two new nuclear power stations with assistance from Russia, the head of its Atomic Energy Organisation said on Wednesday. Ali Akbar Salehi said “Operations to build two new nuclear power plants in Bushehr will start on September 10″ adding that it will take 10 years for the power plants to be completed. Press TV reports: The Iranian nuclear chief further said that by building these two power plants, the country will save 22 million barrels of oil per year. He said the projects would cost an estimated $10 billion. In November 2014, Tehran and Moscow struck a deal to build eight more nuclear power plants in Iran. Russia has already built a power plant in Bushehr. The agreement for Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant was finalized in 1995, but the project was delayed several times due to a number of technical and financial issues. The 1,000-megawatt plant, which is operating under the full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reached its maximum power generation capacity in August 2012. In September 2013, Iran officially took over from Russia the first unit of its first 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant for two years.
