TEHRAN – The deputy chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said on Sunday that the Bushehr nuclear power plant will temporarily stop its electricity production based on annual plans for changing fuels, doing inspections, and performing periodical repairs, Fars reported.

“One of the goals of the current refueling program is that the plant would hopefully produce the required energy during the country’s peak electricity consumption in the summer,” Mahmoud Jafari explained.

“After the refueling is done, the production of electricity will be resumed in the first unit of the nuclear power plant according to the timetable,” he added.

Bushehr is Iran’s first nuclear power plant built by Russia. Plans are underway to add new phases to the plant. 

Since its inauguration, the plant has provided 43 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to the country’s electrical grid, the official said, noting that from the last refueling in May 2019 till now, the plant has produced 7.2 billion kilowatt-hours of energy.

The Bushehr facility sits 17 kilometers southeast of the city of Bushehr along the Persian Gulf coast in southwestern Iran.

It started operating in 2011 and reached its full capacity the following year.

AEOI chief Ali Akbar Salehi said last week that the construction of the second phase of Bushehr plant would be launched in August in cooperation with the Russian contractor.

“Based on the plans, the second phase of the power plant will become operational in six years, and the third phase will come on stream within the next two years,” Fars quoted him as saying.