Iran to open nuclear plant in the summer

Iran said today that it will begin operation of the country’s first nuclear power plant in the summer of next year using half its 1,000 megawatt capacity, the official news agency IRNA reported.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the Russians, who are helping build the light-water reactor in the southern Iranian town of Bushehr, will have completed nuclear fuel shipments by the summer, paving the way for its launch.