"Following a technical failure at the Bouchehr plant (...) it was temporarily shut down and disconnected from the national electricity grid", said the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (OIEA) without saying more. on the cause of this incident.
"Of course, after this technical failure has been corrected, the plant will be reconnected to the national electricity grid in a few days," adds this press release nonetheless.
According to the national electricity distribution company, the "repairs" could last until the end of the week, or Friday in Iran.
Equipped with a 1000 MW reactor, the plant was built by Russia and commissioned in 2013. Bushehr is a port in the Gulf, closer to the capitals of several monarchies of the Arabian Peninsula than to Tehran, and located in an area subject to frequent earthquakes.
The Arab countries of the Gulf neighboring Iran have also repeatedly expressed their fears about the reliability of the Bushehr plant and mentioned a risk of radioactive leaks in the event of a major earthquake.
In April, the region of Bushehr was shaken by an earthquake of magnitude 5.8 according to the American geological institute USGS.
The earthquake left five people injured, according to Iranian state media.
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"All the facilities, equipment and buildings of the Bouchehr nuclear power plant are in perfect condition and its activities were not interrupted" by the earthquake, then indicated the public relations department of the plant quoted by the agency. official Irna.
However, the national electricity distribution company called on the Iranians to limit their consumption so as not to saturate the network during this period of hot weather.
Iranian nuclear negotiations underway
In May, Tehran and several major Iranian cities were subjected to loop power cuts, which local media attributed to a severe drought that squeezed the country's hydropower production capital, and strong demand for electricity. current for energy-intensive computer mining activities. Former President Hassan Rohani had also indicated at the end of May that these “cryptocurrency mining” activities had been banned until the end of the summer.
A major producer of oil and gas, the Islamic Republic wants to build 20 nuclear power plants over time in order to diversify its energy resources and be less dependent on fossil fuels for its domestic consumption. After years of tensions over its controversial atomic program, Iran concluded in Vienna in 2015 an agreement with the international community offering the Islamic Republic relief from Western and United Nations sanctions in exchange for its commitment never to endow itself with nuclear weapons. atomic weapons, and a drastic reduction in its nuclear program, placed under strict UN control.
But the deal was torpedoed in 2018 by the decision of former US President Donald Trump to withdraw from it and reinstate the US sanctions that the agreement had lifted. Negotiations are underway in Vienna to try to save the agreement by reintegrating the United States. The solution is a priori easing of American sanctions in exchange for Tehran's return to strict application of the agreement, the Islamic Republic having abandoned in response to the American blockade most of the safeguards to its controversial nuclear activities that it had accepted in Vienna.
