"Checks of the equipment earlier installed in Bushehr by the German firm Siemens have proved that only 10 percent of it can be used", Asmolov said. "The time required to assess the efficiency of the equipment installed before has caused the delay".
He recalled that equipment checks in Bushehr have taken two and a half years.
Now, much of the equipment has been replaced and the rest ordered to be supplied, he said.
As reported before, the first unit of the Russian-built Bushehr facility can be started up in 2005 and wholly commissioned in 2006.
Vladimir Asmolov also reported about the plans of his agency to participate in the tender to build the Belene nuclear power plant in Bulgaria.
To Asmolov, Belene is going to have two units Water-Moderated Reactor-1000 (WMR-1000).
In their time, Soviet specialists participated in building the Kozlodui nuclear power plant, having four WMR-440 and two WMR-1000 units, shut down on the European Commission's demand.
RIA Novosti learnt from the Federal Nuclear Energy Agency that the Bulgarian prime minister recently said that the order to resume Belene construction may be signed before the end of May.
The Belene nuclear power facility is found 250 kilometers away from Sofia.
