Iran building first nuclear plant

TEHRAN, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Iranian Energy Minister Parviz Fattah said Sunday construction has started on the nation's first nuclear power plant to be built by domestic experts.

Vice President Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh said the nuclear power plant being built under supervision of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization in the Khuzestan Province could be operational within four to five years, Alalam Satellite TV reported Sunday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said nuclear fuel produced at his country's Natanz facility eventually would be used by the power plant.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Sunday the country's first nuclear power station, being built by Russian contractors, will be operational as soon as the middle of 2008.

"The Bushehr nuclear power station will launch at a capacity of 50 percent next summer," Mottaki said.

Alalam said the foreign minister's comments appeared optimistic compared to those of the site's Russian contractors, who said it would not go online until late 2008.