Iran to build a new nuclear power plant

"Iran will build a plant of 1000 megawatt nuclear power plant at Bushehr next year," the television quoted as saying Fereydoon Abbasi Davani. He was referring to the Iranian calendar year from March 2013 to March 2014.

The Mehr and ISNA news agencies both reported another nuclear power plant was also planned and could be built in the years ahead.

ISNA quoted Mr. Abbasi Davani as saying that the drawings of an installation of 360 megawatts in Darkhovin, in the southwestern province of Khuzestan near the border with Iraq, "have been completed and we study it."

Darkhovin, a project initiated by France, but abandoned after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, has been blocked due to EU sanctions against Tehran.

In September 2011, deputy nuclear chief Mohammad Ahmadian stated that Iran was seeking foreign assistance to complete the project.