Iran temporarily shuts down Bushehr nuclear power plant after “technical failure”

Iran’s only nuclear power plant, located in the southern city of Bushehr, was closed on Monday for “a few days” after a “technical failure” of an unspecified nature., reported the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA).

“After a technical failure at the Bushehr power plant (…) it was temporarily shut down and disconnected from the national electricity grid“The IAEA said in a statement released on Sunday evening.

“Naturally, once this technical failure has been corrected, the plant will reconnect to the national electricity grid”, adds the text.

Equipped with a 1000 MW reactor, the factory was built by Russia and became operational in 2013.

Bushehr is a port in the Gulf, closer to the capitals of several monarchies in the Arabian Peninsula than to Tehran, so the power station, built in an area where earthquakes are frequent, worries these states.

Iran’s neighboring Gulf Arab countries have repeatedly expressed concern about the plant’s reliability. and the risk of radioactive leaks in the event of a major earthquake.

In April, the Bushehr region was rocked by a magnitude 5.8 earthquake, according to the American geological institute USGS, which left five people injured, according to Iranian official media.

“All the facilities, equipment and buildings of the Bushehr nuclear power plant are in perfect condition and its activities have not been interrupted.“Because of the earthquake, the public relations department of the power station had indicated at the time, quoted by the official Irna agency.

According to the national electricity distribution company, the Bushehr plant is the subject of “repair” work of an undetermined nature which could last until the end of the week (Friday in Iran).

The company asked Iranians to limit their consumption so as not to saturate the network during this very hot period.

In May, Tehran and several major Iranian cities suffered power outages, which local media attributed to a drought that affected hydroelectric power generation as well as cryptocurrency mining, a power-intensive IT business.

The then president Hasan Rouhani said in May that mining was banned until the end of the summer.

In 2016, Russian and Iranian companies started building two more 1,000 MW reactors in Bushehr.

The country, a major producer of oil and gas, wants to build up to 20 nuclear power plants to diversify its energy resourcess and are less dependent on fossil fuels for home consumption.

After years of tension over its controversial nuclear program, Iran struck a deal in Vienna in 2015 with the international community.

EThe pact offered the Islamic Republic relief from Western and UN sanctions in exchange for its commitment not to acquire atomic weapons. and a drastic reduction in its nuclear program, under strict UN control.

But the deal was terminated in 2018 by former US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from it and reinstate the US sanctions the pact lifted.

Negotiations are now underway in Vienna to try to save it by reintegrating the United States.

With information from AFP

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