Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi announced the successful completion of loading fuel to Iran's first nuclear power plant in Bushehr on Tuesday morning.
The Bushehr nuclear plant has been connected to the national power grid since this morning after passing the necessary technical tests; electricity produced by the plant has been added to the national power supply, Salehi said in a press release.
The 1,000-megawatt power plant is currently operating at 50 percent of its nominal capacity and would reach its full capacity within the next two or three days, he added.
In a related development, AEOI Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said that Salehi will be visiting Moscow to sign contracts with the Russian Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) on launching two new nuclear reactors at Bushehr plant.
The two reactors will be built within the coming seven years, Kamalvandi told reporters, voicing hope that the construction operation will start this year.
Salehi's visit to Russia will follow Nikolai Spassky, Rosatom's deputy director general for international affairs, concluded a two-day visit to Tehran today, Kamalvandi said without specifying the date of Salehi's visit.
Spassky held talks with AEOI officials on the technical and commercial details of building new nuclear reactors and the terms of final contract would be ready in coming weeks to be sealed during Salehi's visit to Moscow.
Kamalvandi affirmed that Bushehr plant is one of the world's safest nuclear plants because it has a dual Russian-western safety system which is could hardly found at any other plant.
He added that the launching of the two new reactors will increase Iran's need of nuclear fuel which necessitates operating more centrifuges for uranium enrichment.
Reaffirming Iran's commitment to negotiations with the P5+1 group in order to remove suspicions about its nuclear program, Kamalvandi said in case of failure of these talks, Iran would have no choice other than resuming the uranium enrichment at 20 percent grade