Iran’s long-delayed Bushehr nuclear plant will be launched within a few months, an Iranian energy official said on Friday. “This plant will be launched according to schedule at the end of the spring and will run the same as the other nuclear plants in the world,” Ali Akbar Saleh, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said in quotes carried by news agency ILNA.
 
The Iranian spring ends in late June.
 
Russia said in January it would finish building a 1,000 megawatt nuclear power plant this year that it agreed to build 15 years ago. Delays have haunted the $1 billion project and diplomats say Moscow has used it as a lever in relations with Tehran.
 
Russia says the Bushehr plant is purely civilian and cannot be used for any weapons program as it will come under International Atomic Energy Agency supervision. Iran will have to return all spent fuel rods to Russia.