Iran's Bushehr plant operational soon

TEHRAN, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Iran's controversial Bushehr nuclear plant is expected to begin producing electricity next month.

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi said, "We hope to be able to produce nuclear electricity by mid-February as we have promised before," Fars news agency reported Monday.

Three months ago Iran began loading fuel into the Bushehr nuclear power plant reactor's core in the final step before the facility can start operation.

The plant's start-up has been plagued by numerous problems, most recently by the introduction by unknown entities of the Stuxnet worm into the plant's software systems, the first known malicious viral software of its kind unleashed by computer hackers.

Last month Salehi stated, "Since a year ago, the Westerners have tried to infiltrate our country's nuclear sites to open a way for their worm to disrupt their activities but the country's young experts stopped the virus exactly at those points that enemies intended to infiltrate."