TEHRAN, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Russia could start preparing for fuel deliveries to Iran's first nuclear power plant in January, a top Russian nuclear executive said.
The head of Russia's nuclear equipment and services exporter said on a visit to Iran Tuesday that preparations would start next month to send nuclear material in March for the controversial Bushehr nuclear reactor.
"Fuel deliveries to the Bushehr NPP require preparations three months in advance, and we plan to start the preparations in January 2007 to be able to deliver the fuel in March," Sergei Shmatko, head of Atomstroyexport, said according to a report from the RIA Novosti news agency.
"We have stuck to the schedule, which envisions fuel deliveries to Bushehr six months ahead of the launch of Iran's nuclear power plant," Shmatko said after a meeting with Iran's nuclear chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh, according to the report.
Shmatko said Moscow and Tehran had agreed on stable funding for the Bushehr plant. He said Iran has already paid $900 million and that his company has provided a loan of $140 million for the project.
"Most importantly, we have confirmed that everything will proceed according to plan, but only if Iran finances $20-25 million for the construction of Bushehr every month," Shmatko said, lauding Iran's payment of $22 million to Russia in November, Shmatko said.
"It is about three times more than we received in 2006," he said. "They have promised us that the Iranian side will maintain the pace."
Shmatko said he had held talks with Iranian officials during his visit about future progress in building the Bushehr plan and that they had gone well.
"We have agreed on parameters today, and the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, Gholamreza Aghazade, was happy," he said according to the RIA Novosti report. "We agreed to hold negotiations on the issue in Tehran after the New Year holidays."
