Russia and Iran Tuesday agreed to broaden cooperation in the field of peaceful use of atomic energy to allow the Islamic republic build new nuclear power facilities as part of its civilian nuclear programme.
A protocol intergovernmental agreement for building a nuclear power plant in Iran, and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation in using atomic energy for peacul purposes were signed by Sergey Kirienko, chief executive of Russia's nuclear agency ROSATOM, and Iran's Vice President Ali-Akbar Salehi, a press release from ROSATOM said Tuesday.
The contract for construction of two power units of Bushehr nuclear power plant in southwestern Iran was also signed at the meeting.
According to the intergovernmental agreement, Russia will help Iran construct additional four power units at Bushehr on a turn-key basis, as well as four similar power units on another site in Iran.
Russia will also train Iranian specialists in operation, servicing and corresponding engineering support of the nuclear facilities as well as in the field of regulation of nuclear and radiation safety.
Besides, the nuclear fuel will be fabricated by Russia throughout the lifecycle of eight power units. Spent nuclear fuel will be returned to Russia for reprocessing and storage.
The entire project, including equipment and nuclear fuel supplies, will be under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards and fully meet the nuclear non-proliferation regime "the same way as during construction of the first unit of Bushehr", the release said.
