"Iranian Majlis has ratified the proposal of the parliamentary energy commission on the construction of 20 new nuclear power plants with the total output of 20,000 megawatts," Kamal Daneshyar, the head of the Majlis energy commission told journalists on Monday.
According to him, "the introduction of nuclear power plants, which will be conducted in the course of the next ten years, will substitute for the lack of the electric energy in the country."
The MP didn't specify the location of the new construction sites.
Currently Russian specialists complete the construction of the first unit of the nuclear power plant in Bushehr - the northern part of the Iranian shore on the Persian Gulf. The launch of the unit is scheduled for late 2005 with the commissioning in 2006.
Documents concerning the return of the spent nuclear fuel from the Bushehr power plant and conditions for its deliveries were signed in the course of the recent visit of Alexander Rumyantsev, the head of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency, to Iran in march this year. This visit relieved the remaining obstacles concerning the construction of the facility in Bushehr, which was conducted in full compliance with international standards and under the IAEA supervision.
