AFP - A top Iranian official said on Saturday that the fuel placed inside the reactor of a Russian-built nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr will be removed.
"Based on the recommendation of Russia, which is in charge of completing the Bushehr atomic power plant, the fuel inside the reactor core will be taken out for a while to conduct some experiments and technical work," Iran’s envoy to the UN atomic watchdog, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told the ISNA news agency.
"After the experiments, it will again be installed in the core of the reactor." He did not specify when the experiments would be completed.
In January, former atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the Bushehr plant would be ready to generate electricity on April 9 after operations began on November 27.
Soltanieh said Iran wanted to put in place the "highest" safety standards at Bushehr.
"The complete responsibility for completing Bushehr power plant in accordance with highest safety standards is on Russia, and Iran has always emphasised and prioritised that the power plant must have the highest international safety standards," he said.
Iran says it needs the plant, under construction since the 1970s, to meet growing demand for electricity.