tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052619574654451302012-01-22T06:53:10.109-08:00Echonoreply@blogger.comBlogger11100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-905261957465445130.post-44705944353199712132011-09-04T06:24:00.000-07:002011-09-04T06:26:13.500-07:00<div id="article-wrapper"> <div id="main-content-picture"><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/9/4/1315133755276/The-reactor-building-of-I-007.jpg" alt="The reactor building of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, 750 miles south of Tehran" height="276" width="460" /></div> <div class="caption" style="text-align: justify;">The reactor building of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, 750 miles south of Tehran. Photograph: Bagher Nasir/AP</div> </div> <div id="article-body-blocks"> <p style="text-align: justify;">Iran's first nuclear power plant has started adding electricity to the national grid after years of delays, according to the state news agency.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"The Bushehr nuclear power plant joined the national grid on Saturday at 11.29pm (6.59pm GMT) with the power of around 60 megawatts (MW)," the Isna news agency said.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Hamid-Khadem Qaemi, a spokesman for the country's Atomic Energy Organisation, told Iran's Arabic TV station al-Alam that the plant would be officially inaugurated by 12 September, by which time it would be operating at 40% capacity. The agency was not immediately available to comment.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The $1bn (£616m), 1,000MW plant on the Gulf coast is the first of what Iran hopes will become a network of nuclear facilities that will reduce its reliance on its abundant fossil fuels.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Started by Germany's Siemens in the 1970s before Iran's Islamic revolution, the project was later taken over by Russian engineers and has since suffered a series of delays.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The west fears Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at making atomic weapons, which Tehran denies.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Experts say firing up the Bushehr plant will not bring Iran any closer to building a nuclear bomb because Russia will supply the enriched uranium for the reactor and take away spent fuel that could be used to make weapons-grade plutonium.</p> </div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/905261957465445130-4470594435319971213?l=naupyrata.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Echonoreply@blogger.com4