Iran: Bushehr nuclear power station shut down after “technical failure”

Published on : 06/21/2021 – 09:14

Iran’s only nuclear power plant, in Buchehr, in the south of the country, is shut down on Monday, June 21, for “a few days” after a “technical failure” of an unspecified nature reported by the Iranian Organization of the United Nations. atomic energy (OIEA).

“Following a technical failure at the Bouchehr plant (…) it was temporarily shut down and disconnected from the national electricity grid,” said the OIEA in a short press release published on Sunday night in Monday. “Of course, after this technical failure has been corrected, the plant will be reconnected to the national electricity grid in a few days,” the short statement added.

Equipped with a 1000 MW reactor, the plant was built by Russia and was commissioned in 2013.

Risk of radioactive leaks in the event of an earthquake

Bushehr is a Gulf port, closer to the capitals of several Arabian Peninsula monarchies than to Tehran, and located in an area frequently prone to earthquakes.

The Arab countries of the Gulf neighboring Iran have also repeatedly expressed their fears about the reliability of the Bushehr plant and mentioned a risk of radioactive leaks in the event of a major earthquake.

In April, the region of Bushehr was shaken by an earthquake of magnitude 5.8 according to the American geological institute USGS. The earthquake left five people injured, according to Iranian state media.

“All the facilities, equipment and buildings of the Bouchehr nuclear power plant are in perfect condition and its activities were not interrupted” by the earthquake, then indicated the public relations department of the plant quoted by the agency. official Irna.

According to the national electricity distribution company, the Bouchehr power station is the subject of work of “repairs” of an unspecified nature which could last until the end of the week, ie Friday in Iran.

The company called on the Iranians to limit their consumption so as not to saturate the network during this period of hot weather.

Iran wants to build 20 nuclear power plants in the long term

In May, Tehran and several major Iranian cities were subjected to loop power cuts, which local media attributed to a severe drought that squeezed the country’s hydropower production capital, and strong demand for electricity. current for energy intensive computer mining activities.

President Hassan Rouhani indicated at the end of May that these “cryptocurrency mining” activities had been banned until the end of the summer.

In 2016, Russian and Iranian companies started building two additional 1,000 MW reactors in Bushehr.

A major producer of oil and gas, the Islamic Republic wishes to build 20 nuclear power plants in the long term in order to diversify its energy resources, in order to be less dependent on fossil fuels for its internal consumption.

After years of tensions around its controversial atomic program, Iran concluded in Vienna in 2015 an agreement with the international community offering the Islamic Republic relief from Western and UN sanctions in exchange for its commitment never to acquire nuclear weapons. atomic weapons, and a drastic reduction in its nuclear program, placed under strict UN control.

Negotiations to save the Vienna Accord

But the deal was torpedoed in 2018 by the decision of former US President Donald Trump to withdraw from it and reinstate the US sanctions that the agreement had lifted.

Negotiations are underway in Vienna to try to save the agreement by reintegrating the United States.

The solution is a priori easing of American sanctions in exchange for Tehran’s return to strict application of the agreement, the Islamic Republic having abandoned in response to the American blockade most of the safeguards to its controversial nuclear activities that it had accepted in Vienna.

Located on the borders of several tectonic plates and crossed by several faults, Iran is an area of ​​strong seismic activity. The last major earthquake dates back to November 2017. A magnitude 7.3 earthquake in the province of Kermanchah (West) killed 620 people.

With AFP