Iran: Bushehr plant to be ready in spring

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.

The United States and major European Union countries suspect Iran wants to build a nuclear bomb under cover of its civilian nuclear program, a claim Tehran vehemently denies.

Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, has been disappointed by Tehran's refusal to agree to a compromise plan for Iran to enrich uranium in Russia and could back new sanctions Washington is seeking.

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.