Other Names: Darkhouin, Ahvaz, Esteghlal, and Karun
Location: South of Ahvaz, on the Karun River
Subordinate to: AEOI
Size: 360MW
Status: In the planning stages

Description:

Historically, Darkhovin has been the proposed location for several reactor projects. Currently Iran is planning to construct a 360MW power generating reactor there.

A 1973 deal with French firms to construct two 950MW pressurized water reactors (PWRs) at Darkhovin was cancelled following the Islamic revolution. In 1993, Iran contracted with the Chinese to construct two 300MW Qinshan reactors under a project named Esteghlal ("Independence") at that location. China cancelled construction of the reactors in 1995, possibly as a result of U.S. pressure to end nuclear cooperation with Iran.

In December 2007 Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iranian Parliament's national security and foreign policy commission, announced that engineers have finished blueprints for a new 360MW reactor at Darkhovin. Iran plans to build the reactor using the expertise it gained constructing the Arak IR-40 reactor, and to produce the required fuel domestically.

Key Sources:
[1] Walid Abi-Murshid, "U.S. Warned Not to Try Using IAEA to Isolate or Destabilize Iran," Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, 12 February 1994, pp. 1, 4, in JPRS-TND-94-006, pp. 56-57.
[2] "World Nuclear Industry Handbook 1996," Nuclear Engineering International, p. 105.
[3] "China's Reactor Sale to Iran Now in Doubt," Arms Control Today, No. 25, October 1995.
[4] "Darkhovin," Federation of American Scientists, www.fas.org.
[5] "Iranian 360 Megawatt Nuclear Plant Blueprint Finished: Boroujerdi," Iranian Student News Agency, 24 December 2007.
[6] "Darkhovin," Globalsecurity.org, www.globalsecurity.org.

	Updated November 2008