{"id":291195,"date":"2021-07-05T17:14:23","date_gmt":"2021-07-05T14:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/irans-bushehr-nuclear-plant-back-online-after-two-weeks\/"},"modified":"2021-07-05T17:14:23","modified_gmt":"2021-07-05T14:14:23","slug":"irans-bushehr-nuclear-plant-back-online-after-two-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/irans-bushehr-nuclear-plant-back-online-after-two-weeks\/","title":{"rendered":"#Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant back online after two weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant back online after two weeks<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\n This file photo taken on August 20, 2010 shows the reactor building at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran.
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Iran’s only nuclear power plant has been brought back online, its manager said early Monday, after two weeks off-grid amid a power shortage and rolling blackouts across the Islamic republic.<\/p>\n

The Bushehr plant’s shutdown was initially blamed on a “technical fault” that required repairs followed by conflicting reports that it was a regular maintenance operation.<\/p>\n

The plant going offline came as Tehran and world powers in Vienna talks attempt to revive a hobbled 2015 agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme that was torpedoed by the United States.<\/p>\n

It returns to the grid as major cities across Iran including the capital Tehran are experiencing frequent blackouts blamed on high summertime demand exceeding production levels.<\/p>\n

The “technical fault” that shut down the Bushehr plant “was fixed”, Mahmoud Jafari, who is also deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), told ISNA news<\/a> agency around midnight.<\/p>\n

That allowed the plant to be reconnected to the national power grid and resume production.<\/p>\n

Jafari said power generation had resumed Sunday, and urged Iranians to “help” the overburdened grid by minimising power consumption as high temperatures are forecast in the coming days.<\/p>\n

The plant on Iran’s southern coast and its 1,000-megawatt reactor were built by Russia and officially handed over in September 2013 after years of delay.<\/p>\n

Russian and Iranian firms started work on two additional 1,000-megawatt reactors in 2016, with construction expected to take 10 years.<\/p>\n

On June 20, the AEOI had blamed “a technical fault” for the shutdown and said it had given the energy ministry one day’s notice before going offline.<\/p>\n

It said two days later that the issue was with the plant’s “power generator”, without explaining further.<\/p>\n

But Iran’s foreign ministry at the time described the shutdown as “routine,” saying it was carried out “once or twice each year”.<\/p>\n

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\n This handout satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies on January 8, 2020 shows an overview of Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant.
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Record power consumption<\/b><\/p>\n

Bushehr plant chief Jafari said in late March that Iran was having a difficult time obtaining supplies to run Bushehr because of US sanctions, and warned of an imminent shutdown “if no solution is found”.
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Tehran is engaged in talks with world powers in Vienna to revive the 2015 nuclear deal that gave Iran international sanctions relief in exchange for limiting its nuclear programme.<\/p>\n

But hopes for rising prosperity were dashed in 2018 when former US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the accord and reimposed punishing sanctions on Tehran.<\/p>\n

Trump’s successor Joe Biden favours rejoining the accord and his administration is indirectly involved in the Vienna talks to salvage the deal.<\/p>\n

Bushehr going off-grid had raised concerns of worse blackouts after a string of power cuts in Iran blamed on heat, drought impacting hydro-electrical facilities, and surging electricity demand.<\/p>\n

Iran introduced planned, rolling blackouts in May after Tehran and several other cities were hit by unannounced power cuts, sparking complaints from consumers and an apology from the energy minister.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Iran’s electricity company on Monday apologised for unplanned cuts the night before.<\/p>\n

Mostafa Rajabi-Mashhadi said record consumption of 65,900 megawatts had exceeded Iranian power plants’ 55,000 MW output and a “looming heat wave” could exacerbate the situation, IRNA news agency reported.<\/p>\n

Power cuts are not uncommon during Iran’s hot summers, when air-conditioning use spikes. Adding to the problem, the country’s hydropower capacity has been hit by low rainfall. <\/p>\n

A government report in May said precipitation was down 34 percent compared to the long-term average, and warned of reduced water supplies for the year.\n <\/p>\n\n

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Iran’s sole nuclear power plant undergoes emergency shutdown\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant back online after two weeks (2021, July 5)
\n retrieved 5 July 2021
\n from https:\/\/techxplore.com\/news\/2021-07-iran-bushehr-nuclear-online-weeks.html<\/p>\n

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