Russia has drafted an agreement package to provide a €2.2bn government loan to Iran. This was reported by Bloomberg quoting Ali Akbar Salehi, Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. The construction of two more reactors at Bushehr worth 10 billion US dollars may begin later this year.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin previously announced, Russia will continue helping Iran in the implementation of its national nuclear program. The two countries have already approved their plans to construct eight nuclear power units in Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “We have reached agreement to build eight new reactor units in Iran. Russia will continue supporting Iran’s civil nuclear program, including enriched uranium recycling and conversion of its facilities to the production of stable isotopes”, said Vladimir Putin in an interview to Azerbaijan State News Agency. The functioning nuclear station in Bushehr Province was constructed by Russian engineers in accordance with the Russian-Iranian contract signed in 1995. The nuclear power plant reached 100% of its capacity in August 2012 and is now operated under close supervision of the IAEA. Initially, construction of new Iranian units was expected to begin in March.

In early May, Rosatom reported that Russia planned to start designing Bushehr-2 by the end of 2016 as soon as the customer approved specifications of the construction site. Construction of Unit 3 is now expected to begin in the next two years. Total investments are estimated to reach 11 billion US dollars. In early 2014, Moscow and Tehran signed a package of agreements to construct eight reactor units in Iran.