Iran[/B] has started construction of a new nuclear plant in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency (OIEA) announced today.
The construction site, whose launch was announced on state television by the head of this agency Mohammad Eslami, is expected to take seven years.
The 300-megawatt plant, being built in the Darhovin region, will cost between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, Eslami added.
Iran also has a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in Boucher, at the southern tip of the country.
Originally, the Darhovin plant was to be built by a French company, which reneged on its commitments after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to the head of the atomic energy agency.
Subsequently, other countries refrained from cooperating with the Islamic Republic of Iran because of sanctions, Eslami continued.
Under a historic agreement reached in 2015, Iran had agreed to freeze its uranium enrichment activities at the underground Fordo plant, located 180 kilometers south of Tehran.
Tehran had pledged to limit to 3.67% the enrichment limit under this agreement concluded by Iran, on the one hand, and the United States, China, France, Britain, Russia and Germany, on the other.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the agreement is called, offered Iran relief from international sanctions in exchange for guarantees that Tehran would not acquire atomic weapons, a goal the Islamic Republic has always denied it was pursuing.
However, following the United States' withdrawal from the CFE in 2018 under Donald Trump's presidency, and the reimposition of US sanctions that stifle its economy, Tehran was gradually released from its obligations.
Iran thus began in January 2021 the process of producing 20% enriched uranium at the Fordow plant.
Then, in April 2021, it announced that it began producing 60% enriched uranium at the Natanz plant, approaching the 90% required to produce an atomic bomb.
Last month, Tehran announced that it began producing 60% enriched uranium at Fordow in a new violation of its commitments.
Negotiations to revive the 2015 agreement began in April 2021, but have stalled in recent months after tensions rose between Iran and the major powers that are parties to the deal.
Source: APM
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