IRAN received a third shipment of nuclear fuel from Russia yesterday for a power plant being constructed in the southern Iranian port of Bushehr, state radio reported.
The 11-ton consignment arrived at the Bushehr power plant yesterday morning and the remainder of the fuel will arrive in five separate shipments over the next months, the radio report said.
Iran received the first two shipments of nuclear fuel from Russia on December 17 and December 28 after months of dispute between the two countries, allegedly over delayed construction payments for the reactor.
Iran has said Bushehr, the country's first nuclear reactor, will begin operating in the summer of 2008, producing half its 1,000 megawatt capacity of electricity.
Tehran heralded the first shipment as a victory, saying it proved its nuclear program was peaceful, not a cover for weapons development.
The US initially opposed Russian participation in building the Bushehr reactor and supplying it with fuel but reversed its position about a year ago to obtain Moscow's support for the first set of UN sanctions against Iran.
The US and Russia have said the supply of nuclear fuel meant Iran had no need to continue its uranium enrichment program – a process that can provide fuel for a reactor or material for a bomb.
