BUSHEHR – As engineers began loading fuel into the core of the Bushehr nuclear reactor on Tuesday the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced that it plans to build two to three more nuclear reactors at the Bushehr nuclear site.

“This facility has the capacity to house two to three other reactors,” AEOI director Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters at the site of the Bushehr nuclear plant.
Salehi said work on the construction of new reactors will start should the conditions are favorable.
Asked why the loading has been postponed several times, Salehi, a trained nuclear expert, said delays are natural because some malfunctions usually occur during the testing out machines or equipment.
Asked when the power plant can generate electricity, he said it will take at least 60 days so that the plant can generate electricity.
The plant, which is located near the port of Bushehr on the coast of the Persian Gulf, will produce 1000 megawatts of electricity once all the fuel rods are loaded into the core of the reactor.
Salehi also said the raw materials of radio isotopes will be shipped from Russia to Iran within two weeks and after their quality is approved, a contract will be signed between the two countries.
-- Fuel exchange
Salehi also said he is in contact with Russian officials for resuming talks about a nuclear fuel exchange as IAEA director Yukiya Amano is visiting Moscow.
-- Safety standards
The nuclear chief also assured the Persian Gulf neighboring countries that the Bushehr nuclear plant is among the world’s reactors with the highest safety standards.
He added the International Atomic Energy Agency is involved in upgrading the safety of the plant.
In terms of safety the plant has been tested three times, he explained.
He went on to say that the Persian Gulf countries can ask the IAEA any questions about the safety of the Bushehr plant.