Washington backs Russia's stand on Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant

Moscow, Mar 14 (UNI) US Deputy Secretary of Energy, Clay Sell today said Russia was taking an absolutely correct approach on the financial issue of construction of Iranian Bushehr nuclear power plant.

''The United States shared Russia's position on the problem of funding the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant,'' Interfax news agency quoted Sell as saying at Moscow-based Carnegie Centre.

Meanwhile, the head of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom) Sergei Kiriyenko today expressed surprise over Iranian position on financing the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

"I am taken aback. Maybe the Iranian authorities have not been provided with complete information. But my impression is that the Iranian side has lost all interest in this project. Not a single kopek has been transferred since the middle of January," Kiriyenko told the agency.

He also said Russia had pledged to supply fuel to the Bushehr nuclear power plant six months before its launch.

Kiriyeko said the plant would not be commissioned in September as planned and nuclear fuel would not be supplied to it in March because the Iranian side had delayed financing by two months.

He made it clear that plant's commissioning would be put off for a period equal to the delay in Iran's payment for the construction.

''The postponement is not a political act, but a technical demand,'' Kiriyenko said.

The spokesman for the plant's Russian contractor Atomstroiexport company Sergei Novikov said the situation that developed following the two-month delay in payments from Iranian side was critical for the Bushehr plant.

"We have registered an outflow of specialists from Iran, and some subcontractors are refusing to supply equipment for nuclear power plant," Novikov told RIA Novosti news agency.

The company had earlier said it will continue the partial construction despite financing difficulties.

The head of Atomstroiexport's department for the construction of Bushehr, Vladimir Pavlov said the lack of clear measures in the current situation may lead to project delays.

''We cannot wait for Iran's decision any longer. The postponement of financing will have irreversible consequences," he said.

UNI