November 25, 2011 - 10:40 AMT
Iran’s Bushehr nuke plant to become fully operational in February 2012

The Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Professor Fereydoun Abbasi, has said the Bushehr nuclear power plant will become fully operational, producing the maximum amount of electricity during the "Ten Days of Dawn celebrations", from February 1 to 11, 2012.

"Numerous tests have to be carried out on the plant, to make sure that no technical glitches exist and the plant functions properly,” he said.

He said the Bushehr plant has produced electricity on several occasions before, at less than maximum capacity of course.

Abbasi said the plant was connected in a 15-day period to Iran's national electricity grid, and it produced 456 Megawatts of electricity during those 15 days. "We are currently trying to run the plant at 75 percent of maximum capacity,” he said.