To the New York Times, 36 years after the construction began, Iran finally opened its first nuclear reactor. The plant has a capacity of one gigawatt (compared to the 1,650 MW of an EPR).
Many around the world are fearing for the region’s peace as the uranium used in the plant could also be used for bombs and missiles. The Iranian government promised to give the spent fuel rods to Russia – who helped building this plant.
This would prevent proliferation. The Bushehr plant will begin producing electricity later this year , once the 82 tonnes of low-enriched uranium will have been delivered by Russia.
Iran is not the only country in the region to have nuclear ambitions as as much as thirteen countries are willing to build nuclear power plants.
On a similar topic : as I just finished reading Uranium, by Tom Zoellner I will propose you soon here a review of this fantastic book.
I will also write a post on how some poor countries could afford nuclear reactors without increasing the risk of another Hiroshima or of nuclear proliferation. So for this and for much more, stay tuned !