Iranian nuclear plant has generator malfunction
Russian and Iranian experts working to fix the problem, which government asserts wasn’t caused by recent earthquakes
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MOSCOW (AP) — Iran’s Russian-built nuclear power plant has had an electric generator malfunction, an Iranian official said Monday.
The flaw at the Bushehr plant wasn’t caused by recent earthquakes in Iran, Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi, Iran’s ambassador to Russia, was quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency as saying.
Sajjadi said Russian and Iranian experts are trying to fix the problem, without saying when it occurred or whether it led to the plant’s shutdown.
Russia’s state-controlled Rosatom nuclear agency, which built the plant, had no comment on Sajjadi’s statement.
Iran has defied Western demands that it halt nuclear programs that could be used for making atomic weapons, though it insists its uranium enrichment program has peaceful goals.
The plant in the southern port of Bushehr isn’t considered a proliferation threat, but some nations have voiced concern about its safety.
Last week, diplomats from several countries monitoring Iran’s nuclear program told The Associated Press that recent restricted information gathered from the site indicated that long cracks appeared in at least one section of the structure.
Persistent technical problems have halted the plant’s operation for long periods since it started up in September 2011.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
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