Russia signed agreement with Iran to build two more nuclear reactors

Russia and Iran on 11 November 2014 signed a contract to build two nuclear reactors in Iran, which will be followed with another six. Nuclear officials from the two countries signed the contract for building two reactors at Bushehr. Bushehr is the first nuclear plant built by Russia in Iran.

The deal was signed in Moscow, Russia between subsidiaries of the two countries’ state atomic agencies Russia's Rosatom and Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation.
• Head of Russia’s Rosatom state corporation - Sergei Kiriyenko
• Nuclear chief Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation - Ali Akbar Salehi

Highlights of deal
• According to the MoU inked between the two countries, the construction of the new reactors would be monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as it was done in case of Busherhr’s first reactor, which became operational in 2013.
• Under the contract, Russia will supply uranium fuel and then take it back for reprocessing and this provision is intended to prevent any possibility of Iran using the spent fuel to build atomic weapons.

The deal was inked two weeks ahead of deadline when Tehran is supposed to sign an agreement on its nuclear programme with P-6 countries. P-6 countries include the five permanent members of the UN Security Council viz., USA, Russia, China, UK, France, and Germany.

As per the deadline which is to end on 24 November 2014, Iran has to agree to limit its uranium enrichment to a level that it could not be able to convert them to build nuclear weapons. It is expected that this deal would relax western sanctions against Iran.