Iran conducts test run of first nuclear power plant

IRANIAN and Russian technicians are conducting a test run of Iran’s first nuclear power plant, officials said yesterday, a big step toward launching full operations at the facility, which has long concerned the US and its allies.

At the same time, the number of centrifuges operating at its uranium enrichment plant has increased to 6,000, the country’s nuclear chief Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, said — up from 5,000 in November.

His announcement was the latest defiance of United Nations’ demands that Tehran suspend its enrichment programme because of fears it could be used to produce material for a warhead. Iran says its programme aims only to generate electricity.