AEOI Head Ali Akbar Salehi said on Friday that the facility is scheduled to be handed over to local contractors on September 24.
He noted the plant’s 14-day test period will come to an end on September 24, adding that the reactor must be functioning at 90 percent capacity and generating at least 900 megawatts of electricity during the two-week period.
However, Salehi underlined, if the output drops below that level, the plant needs to go through another trial period.
The AEOI head stated that the facility has undergone different test operations over the past two years since fuel injection into its core began, adding that this is the final testing period.
“If everything goes well, the power plant will be handed over to the Iranian contractor at the scheduled time (September 24),” Salehi said.
In October 2010, Iran started injecting fuel into the core of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in the southern port city of Bushehr, which is the country’s first nuclear reactor.
On August 29, director of the nuclear facility Hossein Derakhshandeh said the plant had entered the operational phase for “safe and sustainable generation of electricity.”
He added that the plant would enter the industrial operation phase within the next two months, when Iranian technicians assume responsibility for the operations at the facility.
The Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant became officially operational and was connected to Iran’s national grid in September 2011, generating electricity at 40 percent capacity.
The 1,000-megawatt plant, which is operating under the full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reached its maximum power generation capacity in August 2012.
Iran and Russia have assured the international community that the plant is fully compliant with high-level safety standards and the IAEA safeguards.
The United States, the Israeli regime, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.
Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the IAEA, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
SHI/SHI