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From: C-afp@clari.net (AFP)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.nuclear,clari.world.europe.russia,clari.world.mideast.iran
Subject: Iranian president says nuclear plant will create 3,500 jobs
Organization: Copyright 1999 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
Message-ID: <Qiran-russia-nuclearURaes_9FH@clari.net>
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Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 7:55:07 PST
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   TEHRAN, Feb 17 (AFP) - Iranian President Mohammed Khatami vowed  
Wednesday to press ahead with the controversial Bushehr nuclear 
power plant, saying it would provide thousands of jobs and show the 
world Iran's technical capabilities. 
   "We have decided to make the Bushehr plant a brilliant star in  
our economy and if God wills it the plant will create 3,500 jobs," 
Khatami said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency. 
   He said that when the facility begins operation, "the people of  
Iran will show they are capable of making progress in all domains." 
   The Bushehr plant -- which will provide some 1,000 megawatts of  
electricity after completion of the first phase -- is being built by 
Russian engineers and both Tehran and Moscow insist it is solely for 
civil purposes and conforms to international laws and nuclear 
non-proliferation accords. 
   Under a cooperation accord it signed with Iran in 1995, Russia  
agreed to build two pressurised water reactors at Bushehr. Under a 
new accord signed last November, Moscow agreed to speed up 
completion of the plants. 
   The project was originally started in the 1970s by the KWU  
nuclear subsidiary of giant German combine Siemens but they withdrew 
under pressure from Bonn following the 1979 Islamic revolution. 
   Washington is strongly opposed to Moscow's technologicial  
collaboration with Tehran, charging that it has resulted in the 
transfer of nuclear and missile technology. 
   But Tehran has pressed ahead with the project and advertisements  
in the Tehran press last month from the Iranian Atomic Energy 
Organization said a total of 225 engineers were needed with 
expertise in the fields of nuclear physics, physics, mechanical 
engineering and computer science. 
   The adverts said that the applicants must be Iranian nationals  
and that the successful candidates will be sent to Russia for 
training after a short period of preparation in Iran. 
  	   	

