Iran has begun construction of a new nuclear power plant in the country’s southwestern province of Khuzestan, the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) said on Saturday.
And the head of the organization, Muhammad Islami, announced on state television the start of construction of the Karun nuclear power plant with a capacity of 300 megawatts in the Darkhvin region of Khuzestan.
He added that the construction of the station will take seven years and is expected to cost between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.
Islami said the station was “originally planned to be built” by a French company, but the company violated its “obligations” after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“Later, other countries avoided cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran due to sanctions,” he added.
In accordance with the international agreement on the Iranian nuclear deal, concluded in 2015, Iran agreed to cease operation of the Fordow nuclear facility and limit uranium enrichment to a threshold of 3.67% as part of a package of restrictions placed on its nuclear activities aimed at preventing it from developing nuclear weapons.
Iran has repeatedly denied that it is seeking to develop an atomic bomb.
The agreement allowed the removal of many of the sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic in exchange for reducing its nuclear activities and ensuring the peaceful nature of its program.
However, the effects of the agreement have all but disappeared since former US President Donald Trump decided in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw his country from the agreement and reimpose tough sanctions on Iran.
Since then, Iran has reopened the Fordow plant and started producing 60% enriched uranium there last month.
Iran and the parties still included in the agreement, with the coordination of the European Union and the United Nations and with the indirect participation of the United States, began negotiations to renew the agreement in April 2021. After several suspensions, about two months ago it looked like the agreement would see the light of day before it faltered, again due to disagreements between Washington and Tehran.
