Fuel loading completed at Bushehr
26 November 2010
The reactor head of the first unit at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant was successfully installed on 23 November, according to Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), as reported by the
Iranian Students News Agency. This marks the completion of fuel loading activities, which began on 26 October. Previous reports have indicated that the unit will be grid connected in February 2011. The completion of fuel loading comes alongside continuing concern from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about Iran's enrichment activities. An IAEA report dated 23 November concluded, "While the Agency continues to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran, Iran has not provided the necessary cooperation to permit the Agency to confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities." The report also noted that there was a six-day suspension of uranium enrichment at Iran's Natanz plant, which started on 16 November. Some media sources have linked this to the Stuxnet virus attack, but Iran has officially denied that the virus caused any damage.