TEHRAN – The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced on Wednesday that the country is moving forward with the construction of a new power plant in Southern Iran. 

Mohammad Eslami stated that Tehran has now begun the construction of the main facility of the compound, which is located in the small city of Darokhvein in Khuzistan Province. 

The Karoon Nuclear Power Plant (also known as Darkhovein Nuclear Power Plant) is a forthcoming nuclear power facility set to be located in Iran's Khuzestan province, situated approximately 70 kilometers south of Ahwaz along the Karoon River. Once completed, the plant will stand as Iran's first domestically designed and constructed nuclear power facility alongside the research reactor of IR-40. 

The nuclear power plant will be furnished with a pressurized water reactor (PWR), a type of light-water nuclear reactor, to generate electricity with a capacity of 300 megawatts. The project was inaugurated last year and is expected to take 8 years to complete. 

While talking to reporters, Eslami also elaborated on Iran’s other nuclear activities, stressing that the country is enriching uranium in accordance to the laws passed by parliament.

He also commented on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s latest report on Iran, asking the Agency to refrain from politicizing the issue and act as an independent body. 

“The Agency's report has two bases, one of which is based on Resolution 2231 or JCPOA, and based on this, if parties fail to fulfill their obligations, other parties may return from their commitments,” the official said, adding that all of Iran’s nuclear activities are fully getting monitored by the IAEA. 

A report by the IAEA earlier this month claimed that Iran has been barring IAEA’s experienced nuclear inspectors. Tehran has rejected those claims, pointing out how its nuclear facilities are inspected more than any other country in the world.  

IAEA’s Director General Rafael Grossi addressed the report on Wednesday stating, “It takes a lot of time to train inspectors of this type”.

He also added that inspections are still underway in Iran’s nuclear facilities.
 
“We will continue (with the inspections) but this is a very negative development and a serious blow. We hope that this decision will be reversed,” the official stated, referring to the alleged obstruction affecting the IAEA’s work in Iran.

Iran informed the IAEA that it would start enriching uranium to the purity level of 60% at its Fordow nuclear facility in 2022, following an anti-Iran resolution by the U.S. and the European troika initiated at the UN nuclear agency’s Board of Governors.

Iran and the 5+1 group of countries singed a nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or the JCPOA in 2015.  The accord limited the level of Iran’s Uranium enrichment in return to the termination of sanctions against the country.

The U.S., however, unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018, and re-imposed sanctions on Iran. 

The Iranian Parliament finally took action in 2020 and prompted the development of the country’s nuclear program beyond the limits set by the JCPOA, after giving Europe and the U.S. multiple chances to return to the implementation of the deal.  

It seems, however, that Washington and its European allies expect Iran to fully implement the deal, while they have miserably failed to keep their side of the bargain.