The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant will join the national grid at full capacity in upcoming months, Press TV reports.
“Nuclear electricity with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts will be connected to the national network” early in the next Iranian year (starting March 20), after final tests are successfully implemented, Fereydoun Abbasi said on Sunday.
He added that nearly 700 megawatts of nuclear power produced by the Bushehr nuclear power plant had already been added to the national grid in mid-February.
The Bushehr plant was officially launched by Iranian officials in September and began operations by generating electricity at 40 percent of its capacity.
The 1,000-megawatt plant had already been connected to the country's national power grid at a power of 60 MW on 3 September 2011. It reached a capacity of 190 MW on 27 September 2011 and a day later it raised the capacity to 300 MW.
The plant gained 50 percent of its nominal power last October as it reached the capacity of 420 MW.
