Iran begins constructing new nuclear power plant

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News Websites
3 Dec 2022 14:15
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The Karun power plant will take 8 years to finish.

The inauguration of Karun, Iran's new nuclear power plant which will take about 8 years to finish. The event was held by the head of the AEOI, Mohammad Eslami. (Twitter)

Karun, the new nuclear power plant which is currently under construction in Iran, is located in the Darkhoveyn district near Shadegan county, Khuzestan Province. The current construction project was inaugurated by the Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami.

Costing 1.5 to 2 billion USD, the power plant is located within a 50-hectare plot of land near the Karun River, where it will be supplied with a pressurized water reactor (PWR), a type of light-water nuclear reactor to generate electricity with a capacity of 300 megawatts.

Darkhovin #Nuclear PP chosen site in #Iran is seeing new earthworks activity during the last month. In April 2022, #AEOI's current chief Mohammad Eslami stated "This year we started another project to build a completely Iranian nuclear power plant with a capacity of 360 MWe." pic.twitter.com/vIHhI3ZFmV
— The Intel Lab (@TheIntelLab) October 10, 2022

A pressurized water reactor circulates light water as its coolant and uses uranium oxide enriched to around 4% purity as its fuel.

The new power plant is estimated to take 8 years to come to life, has been designed by domestic experts, and will be furnished using locally-made technologies. Iranian companies and potentials will be manufacturing the plant's fixed equipment and will also be designing and producing its coolant pumps.

US envoy throws a tantrum

"We’ll have the sanctions, we’ll have the pressure, we’ll have the diplomacy. If none of that works, the President has said, as a last resort, he will agree to a military option, because if that’s what it takes to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, that’s what will happen. But we’re not there," US Envoy to Iran Robert Malley said in an interview with Foreign Policy.

The US envoy seems to insist that the Islamic Republic is keen on acquiring the weapon, despite that Iran has several times expressed in the past that it is in no way part of its military agenda.

With regards to the illegally imposed sanctions related to allegations over Iran's involvement in the Ukraine conflict, Malley said the US needs to "fine-tune" its sanctions against Iran rather than "punish it" over its alleged role in the Ukraine conflict.

"I think we need to fine-tune our sanctions. It [more sanctions] is not the answer. If it had been the answer then Iran would not be pursuing nuclear weapons. They would not be advancing [their] nuclear program," Malley told Foreign Policy, adding that the matter of sanctioning Iran is a "balancing act," therefore the US needs to act accordingly.