News Digest

Iran signs deal with Russia for two new nuclear reactors

Russia on Tuesday signed a deal with Iran to build two new nuclear reactors and agreed to expand the total number of Russian reactors in the country to eight, the state nuclear agency Rosatom said. A series of agreements, signed during a visit to Moscow by Iran’s nuclear programme chief Ali Akbar Salehi, includes a contract for two new reactors at the existing Russia-built Bushehr plant. The so-called Bushehr Phase II consists of two reactors at the same Persian Gulf coast site as the existing 1,000 megawatt reactor Russia launched last year. The countries also agreed to expand the total number of reactors in Bushehr to four, and construct “four similar power units on another site in Iran”, Rosatom said in a statement. Nuclear fuel will be produced in Russia and spent fuel returned to Russia.

(The project) will be under the IAEA safeguards and fully meet the nuclear nonproliferation regime.

Rosatom, Russia’s national nuclear agency

The agreement comes just two weeks ahead of a Nov. 24 deadline for a lasting nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers that include the U.S. and Russia, even as it plans to build 20 more nuclear plants in the future, including four in Bushehr, to decrease its dependence on oil and gas. A particularly sensitive issue is Iran’s ability to enrich uranium, which Tehran argues is needed to power Bushehr but Israel and Western powers fear will be used to make an atomic bomb. Tuesday’s contract has no immediate relation to the talks that involve Russia and the United States, but it reflects Moscow’s intention to deepen its cooperation with Tehran ahead of possible softening of Western sanctions against Iran.