"We try to start construction of the next nuclear power plant in Bushehr within the next one and a half months," Kamalvandi told reporters in Tehran on Sunday.

He underlined nuclear cooperation with different world states, and said, "We have held negotiations with Germany, Spain, Bulgaria, Czech, China, Kazakhstan and many other countries on nuclear cooperation after the nuclear deal."

Kamalvandi also said that 7 national projects in areas of nuclear power plants construction, nuclear waste management, nuclear safety, radio medicine, reactor and water were implemented in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and at least 9 other research projects in areas of radio medicine, uranium, fishery, agriculture and water are underway with the IAEA's assistance.

Elsewhere, he announced that Tehran and Moscow have finalized their negotiations on Russian purchase of heavy water supplies from Iran.

His remarks came after Russia's Rosatom state nuclear agency announced on Friday that the physical start-up of the second power unit of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant is scheduled for October 2024.

According to Rosatom, the launch of the plant's third unit is planned for April 2026, sputnik reported.

The Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant started operating in Iran in 2011 and reached full capacity the following year. In April 2016, the unit was finally handed over to Iran, officially completing its construction stage.

An agreement to expand civilian nuclear energy cooperation and construct a total of eight additional nuclear reactors at Bushehr was signed between Russia and Iran on November 11, 2014, FNA reported.

212