Iran’s sole atomic power plant has undergone an unexplained temporary emergency shutdown, state TV reported on Sunday.
An official from the state power company Tavanir, Gholamali Rakhshanimehr, said on an interview show that the Bushehr plant shutdown began on Saturday and would last "for three to four days.”
Without elaborating, he said that power outages could result. this is often the primary time Iran has reported an emergency shutdown of the plant within the southern port city of Bushehr. It went online in 2011 with help from Russia. Iran is required to send spent fuel rods from the reactor back to Russia as a nuclear nonproliferation measure.
Earlier on Sunday, Tavanir released a press release saying that the nuclear plant was being repaired, without offering further details. It said the repair work would take until Friday.
In March, nuclear official Mahmoud Jafari said the plant could pack up since Iran cannot procure parts and equipment for it from Russia thanks to banking sanctions imposed by the U.S. in 2018.
Bushehr is fueled by uranium produced in Russia, not Iran, and is monitored by the United Nations’ International nuclear energy Agency. The IAEA acknowledged being conscious of reports about the plant, but declined to comment.
Construction on Bushehr, on the coast of the northern reaches of the Persian Gulf , began under Iran's shah within the mid-1970s. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the plant was repeatedly targeted within the Iran-Iraq War . Russia later completed construction of the power.
The plant, which sits near active fault lines and was built to face up to powerful quakes, has been periodically shaken by temblors. There are no significant earthquakes reported within the area in recent days.
