The talks that started in Tehran last Monday were supposed to resolve Iran's outstanding debt to Atomstroyexport, which said last month Tehran had delayed payment for two months and warned that the launch of the NPP and nuclear fuel deliveries could be delayed as a result. Iran has denied the non payment, accusing Russia of being pressured by the West, which is trying to force Tehran to end its nuclear program.
"The talks have been interrupted due to Iran's national holiday," an Atomstroyexport spokesperson said.
The source said that the Russian delegation had returned to Moscow and that sufficient and sustained funding for the Bushehr NPP for the next six months had been prominent on the agenda of the meetings.
"However, the Iranian client has not transferred the funds up to date," the representative said.
Tehran said last Wednesday it had paid Russia over $75 million and another $6 million in its national currency between October 10, 2006 and March 14, 2007, including a $12.7 million installment March 1.
But Atomstroyexport said it had not received any payments for the NPP construction since mid-January, and that by the fourth quarter of 2006 the project had only received 60% of the required funding.
Moscow warned the plant, being built under a 1995 contract, could not go into service in September as planned, and that nuclear fuel would not be supplied to the NPP in March - six months before the launch - due to the financial problems.
The plant is scheduled to be commissioned in the second half of 2007, after the original date, the end of 2006, was put back. To date, the commissioning date has been postponed five times. The project was originally started by Germany's Siemens in 1975, but work stopped with the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
