A strong earthquake that struck Iran’s southern town of Kaki has not affected the operations in Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, an official says.

“The earthquake in no way affected the normal situation at the [Bushehr nuclear] reactor. Personnel continue to work in the normal regime and radiation levels are fully within the norm,” RIA Novosti quoted an official at Atomstroyexport as saying.

The Iranian Seismological Center said the 6.1-magnituate quake hit the town of Kaki, some 90 kilometers southeast of Bushehr, at 4:22 pm local time (11:52 GMT) on Tuesday at a depth of 12 kilometers.

The quake that killed more than 37 people and injured 850 others was followed by several aftershocks, which jolted Kaki and the nearby city of Khour-Mowj.

 

The Persian Gulf Arab states of Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have also felt the shocks from the quake.

 

The Russian Atomstroyexport company has constructed the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, which is located 18 km south of the city of Bushehr.

Iran, which sits astride several fault lines, is prone to frequent earthquakes.

 

In December 2003, a big quake killed 31,000 people in the southeastern city of Bam.