OREANDA-NEWS. September 13, 2011. On the part of Iranian leadership the ceremony was attended by Vice President and Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Fereidun Abbasi Davani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi, and Minister of Energy Majid Namju. The Russian side was represented by Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Sergey Shmatko, Director General of ROSATOM Sergey Kirienko, and President of Atomstroyexport Alexander Glukhov.

Minister of Energy of Russia Sergey Shmatko addressed his greetings not only to Bushehr NPP construction participants but also to millions of Iran citizens. “With the plant startup, your country starts counting forward a new technological epoch, an era of the peaceful use of atom, he stated. “Power of just one unit of Bushehr NPP is about 3% of the national electricity generation and I wish you that this indicator will only grow in future.”

Director General of ROSATOM Sergey Kirienko in his welcoming address termed the Bushehr NPP project unique. “During its implementation the Russian process equipment was integrated with the building structures designed by Germans; more than 12,000 tons of German equipment were integrated into the Russian project. Ten world countries supplied equipment for the Iranian plant,” he noted.

Sergey Kirienko emphasized, there is no a nuclear power plant in the world which has been under such continuous and high quality oversight on the part of the IAEA. “Bushehr NPP is an example of realization of the right of any country to use civil nuclear power,” he said.

Sergey Kirienko emphasized that in spite of a difficult political situation, the Russian party fulfilled obligations it undertaken to build the nuclear power plant in Iran.

In the framework of the ceremony, the Russian and Iranian sides signed two protocols. The first concerns participation of Bushehr NPP in stress tests carried out by ROSATOM. The second one is about participation of the Russian personnel in operation of the nuclear power plant in Bushehr at the initial stage.

First kilowatts of electricity generated by Bushehr NPP have already entered the Iranian national power grid, however, the Bushehr first power program will continue until the reactor is brought to a contracted nominal power. An additional analysis of performance of all functional systems of the plant will be conducted basing on first results of the plant’s connection to the grid.