The Bushehr NPP construction problem will be solved before the summit of the Caspian states in Tehran scheduled for the middle of October, RIA Novosti quotes Iran's Foreign Ministry as thinking. The Iranian side expects that "specific results will be achieved in the situation around Bushehr NPP" before the start of the summit, Mohammad Ali Khosseini, a spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, told journalists on Sunday. At the summit, the five Caspian states (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Russia, and Turkmenistan) will discuss various regional issues, including the problem of determining the legal status of the Caspian Sea, as well as international problems. A joint statement is expected to be signed at the end of the summit, according to the Iranian diplomat. The deadlines for commissioning the first Iranian nuclear power plant have been rescheduled because of insufficient funding of the construction of the facility from Iran. Ivan Istomin, head of Energoprogress LLC, a Russian subcontractor for the Bushehr NPP project, said in July that it will not be possible to assembly the NPP before the autumn of 2008. The date of the actual commissioning of the power plant is postponed for the same period. The crisis of non-payment by the Iranian side has continued for half a year and the trust of equipment manufacturers in the Bushehr project has been undermined, according to him. Only the recovery of trust and negotiation of new supplies will take at least six months, thinks Mr Istomin. Zarubezhatomenergostroy ("Foreign Nuclear Power Construction") and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) signed the contract for the completion of the first power unit at Bushehr NPP in 1995 in Tehran. Russia also undertook to supply one VVER-1000 reactor and nuclear fuel for it and to train Iranian specialists. The overall contract amount was estimated at $1 billion and the cost of the contract for the VVER-1000 supply totalled $850 million. Russian Joint-stock Company Atomstroyexport performed as the general contractor for construction and assembly work on the first power unit of the NPP. In February 1998, Russia and Iran agreed that Russia would not simply assist in the construction of the NPP, but complete the power plant all by itself. The construction was to be completed on 8 July, 1999, but the deadline for commissioning Bushehr NPP has been postponed several times. |
