TEHRAN, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- A timetable for the start-up of a new Russian-built nuclear power plant in Iran is reportedly near completion.
Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani told Iran’s Fars news agency Thursday that a number of agreements had been achieved on the plant in Bushehr, although a launch date hadn't been set.
Russia’s RIA Novosti news service said the project appeared to be on track for completion by the end of the year with commissioning of the plant to take place sometime in 2008.
The Bushehr plant is considered critical to Iran’s ambitions for a nuclear-powered electrical system, which the United States alleges is actually a cover for a nuclear weapons program.
The $1.2 billion project had stumbled this year amid Russian claims that the Iranian government had missed multiple payments. Tehran disputed the allegation.
