The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Authority, Ahmad Fayadh Bakhsh, said that steps are underway to begin operating the Bushehr atomic energy plant this year although the official inauguration will take place next year.

Iran’s News Agency (IRNA) quoted the director general of the development and production of the Atomic Energy Company as saying that after receiving the nuclear fuel last year [from Russia] “we are generally satisfied about the course of development in Bushehr nuclear plant.”

According to Bakhsh, 700 Iranians were trained in Russia in the last 4 years, and some of them worked at Russian atomic plants.

Leonid Raznikov, the head of the Russian company which supplied the nuclear plant, said that the technical details will be completed between December and February, and that the work on the Bushher plant will be “irreversible.” This Russian view was confirmed by the Russian deputy foreign minister who declared in Tehran that there was “no political issue” regarding the operation of the Bushehr nuclear plant. He said the 6 power concerned about Iran’s nuclear program, namely China, the United States, France, Britain, Germany and Russia, agree operating the Bushehr nuclear plans does not constitute a threat to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Al-Quds al-Arabi, London, October 16, 2008; al-Sharq al-Awsat, October 21, 2008