— There is no hidden political context in the situation over Bushehr

The chairman of the Federation Council on International Affairs Mikhail Margelov believes that there is no hidden political context in the situation over the construction of Bushehr NPP in Iran.

On Feb 19–21 the FC delegation led by Margelov paid a visit to Tehran. The key topics of the talks were the Iranian nuclear program and inter-regional and inter-parliamentary cooperation.

“Of course, we discussed the Iranian nuclear program. Our Iranian colleagues complained of the reports about the possible delay in Bushehr project. However, we told them that we have a market economy and money is a priority for our economic executives,” Margelov said while commenting to RIA Novosti on the visit to Iran.

“There is certainly no hidden political context in the delay. Russia is very scrupulous in fulfilling its commitments, including commercial ones,” Margelov said.

He noted that nuclear energy is one of Russia’s competitive advantages on the world market and it does care for its commitments in the sphere.

To remind, on Feb 20 Atomstroyexport (who is building the NPP) stated that they are receiving no payments for the construction of Bushehr.

“We confirm that there have been no payments under the Iranian contract since mid Jan 2007, which has substantially worsened the positive dynamics observed in Nov-Dec 2006 in line with earlier agreements,” the head of Atomstroyexport’s department for the construction of NPP in Iran Vladimir Pavlov said.

He said that these facts can have a negative impact on the project.

At the same time, he noted that Bushehr is the key project of the Russian-Iranian cooperation and its stoppage is out of question.

Atomstroyexport is expecting the arrival of an Iranian delegation with proposals on how to solve the problem and to ensure the normal financing of the project.
Rosatom has instructed Atomstroyexport to shortly report it about the situation and to analyze the possible consequences of the financial problems for the schedule.
Earlier, a source from the Russian currency control agency told journalists that the Iranian side had not been paying under Bushehr project for over a month. Pavlov confirmed the information but specified that the Central Bank of Iran had informed Atomstroyexport that the delay was due to the need to convert the payments into EUR.

Atomstroyexport reports that in the 4th quarter of 2006 they received 60% of the payments, in Jan 2007 — $5.1mln, in Feb — nothing.

At the same time, the deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Saidi said that the Iranian side was paying according to the schedule. “There is no delay in payments to the Russian Atomstroyexport,” he said.

The contract for the completion of the 1st unit of Bushehr NPP was signed in Tehran Jan 8 1995. Russia has pledged to supply one WWER-1000 reactor and necessary fuel and to train Iranian specialists.