Iran has started construction of a new nuclear power plant in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency (OIEA) announced on Saturday. The project, whose launch was confirmed on state television by the head of this institution Mohammad Eslami, should last seven years.
The 300 megawatt plant, erected in the district of Darkhovin, will cost between 1.5 and 2 billion dollars, added the vice-president of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The country already operates a nuclear power plant in Bouchehr, in the far south of the country, with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts.
Originally the Dharkovin power plant “should have been built by a French company” who backtracked on “his commitments” after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, according to the head of the organization for atomic energy. “Then other countries avoided cooperating with the Islamic Republic of Iran because of the sanctions”Mr. Eslami continued.
International negotiations stalled
As part of a historic agreement reached in 2015, Iran had agreed to freeze its uranium enrichment activities at Fordo, an underground plant located 180 kilometers south of Tehran. The authorities had undertaken to limit the enrichment threshold to 3.67% within the framework of this agreement concluded by Iran on the one hand, and by the United States, China, France, the United United, Russia and Germany on the other.
The pact (JCPOA) offered Tehran relief from international sanctions in exchange for guarantees that Iran would not acquire atomic weapons, an objective that the Islamic Republic has always denied pursuing. However, after the United States withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 under President Donald Trump and the reinstatement of US sanctions that are stifling its economy, the country has gradually freed itself from its obligations.
Iran thus initiated in January 2021 the process intended to produce 20% enriched uranium in the Fordo plant. Then in April 2021, he announced that he had started producing 60% enriched uranium at Natanz, approaching the 90% needed to produce an atomic bomb.
Last month, Tehran announced that it had started producing 60% enriched uranium at Fordo, a further breach of its commitments. Negotiations to revive the 2015 accord began in April 2021 but have stalled in recent months after renewed tensions between Iran and major powers participating in the deal.