The Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) will be Iran's first commercial nuclear reactor. In 1994, Tehran and Moscow signed an agreement to construct the VVER 1000MWe light-water reactor, and construction started the same year.[1]

Iran had previously attempted to build a nuclear power plant at the Bushehr site, and in 1974 contracted the German company Siemens (then KraftWerk) to build two reactors. The first unit was approaching completion when Iran halted the project as a result of the 1979 Iranian revolution.[2] During the Iran-Iraq war, the reactors sustained severe damage in an Iraqi bombing raid.[3] After the war, Siemens refused to continue with the construction in the face of extreme diplomatic pressure from the United States.

The Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant is unique in design because Russia agreed to incorporate Russian technology into the original German-built infrastructure.[4] In a series of shipments between December 2007 and January 2008, Iran received a total of 82 tons of fuel from Russia for the initial fuel loading of the BNPP.[5] The IAEA has arranged to verify and seal the fresh fuel shipments, and all of the fuel assemblies imported from Russia for use at the Bushehr plant have remained under Agency seal.[6] Iran is required to return spent fuel rods from Bushehr to Russia as soon as they are safe for transport.[7] Indicating that the plant is nearing completion, engineers conducted a series of pre-start tests over the course of 2009 and 2010.[8]

Loading of fuel into the reactor core was finished in November 2010.[9] However, in February 2011, Iran informed the IAEA that the fuel would have to be removed.[10] A broken pump had caused small metal particles to infiltrate the reactor’s cooling system, and it was feared that the particles might have made their way into the fuel assemblies.[11] It was speculated that the Stuxnet computer virus had caused damage to the facility.[12] In April of that same year, the fuel was reloaded into the reactor.[13] The following month, the Bushehr plant began operating at low levels.[14] On 11 February 2012, the plant was connected to the national grid, generating 700 megawatts of electricity. That same month, Iranian Atomic Energy Organization chief Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani announced that the plant would operate at full capacity starting in late March 2012.[15]

In May 2012, Russian media reported that Atomstroyexport, the Russian company that built Bushehr, was awaiting permission from Iran to begin operating the reactor at full capacity. Reportedly, Atomstroyexport expects to launch industrial operation of the plant by the end of 2012.[16]

Sources:
[1] "Nuclear Energy in Iran," World Nuclear Association, www.world-nuclear.org.
[2] "Nuclear Energy in Iran," World Nuclear Association, www.world-nuclear.org.
[3] Robert Tait, "Iran Makes First Test-Run of Bushehr Nuclear Reactor," The Guardian, 25 January 2009, www.guardian.co.uk.
[4] "Bushehr Enclosure Leak-Tested," 16 February 2010, World Nuclear News, www.world-nuclear-news.org.
[5] "Iran receives final shipment of fuel for Bushehr," 28 January 2008, World Nuclear News, www.world-nuclear-news.org.
[6] "Iran receives final shipment of fuel for Bushehr," 28 January 2008, World Nuclear News, www.world-nuclear-news.org.
[7] "Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant," Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), www.isisnucleariran.org.
[8] "Iranian Reactor Completes Latest Pre-Start Tests," 12 January 2010, World Nuclear News, www.world-nuclear-news.org.
[9] "Iran completes fueling Bushehr reactor," PressTV, 1 December, 2010, www.presstv.ir.
[10] "Iran nuclear plans: Bushehr fuel to be unloaded," BBC, 26 February 2011.
[11] William J. Broad, "Russians Say Damaged Cooling Pump Is Cause of Delay in Starting Iranian Reactor," The New York Times, 28 February 2011.
[12] "Iran nuclear plans: Bushehr fuel to be unloaded," BBC, 26 February 2011.
[13] Ali Akbar Dareini, "Russia: Fuel Loading Resumes at Bushehr," The Associated Press, 8 April 2011.
[14] "Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant begins operation," BBC, 10 May 2011.
[15] Ladane Nasseri, "Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Plant to Work at Full Capacity, IRNA Says," Bloomberg, 26 February 2012.
[16] "Atomstroyeksport ozhidayet or Irana razresheniya na vyvod AES Busher na 100% moschnosti" ["Atomstroyexport Awaits Iran's Permission to Begin Operating Bushehr NPP at Full Capacity"], AtomInfo.ru, 24 May 2012, www.atominfo.ru.