This year, a core catcher will be installed at the second power unit of the Bushehr NPP under construction in Iran, said Rosatom head Alexei Likhachev.
According to him, this is a key moment for the construction of the second power unit, which means the “birth of a nuclear facility.” The core catcher is an important safety element (a sealed shell of nuclear reactors, a structure that serves to localize the melt). Likhachev added that work continues on the construction of the third power unit of the Bushehr NPP.
The Bushehr NPP project will help Iran become energy independent, and will also give impetus to the development of competencies in the field of peaceful atom. The facility began to be built back in 1975, and the first power unit of the station was commissioned in 2010.
In 2014, Russia signed a contract with Iran for the construction of the second and third power units. They are expected to be commissioned in 2025 and 2027.
Read more on the topic:
37 power units by 2042: Rosatom announced plans for the coming decades