MOSCOW, June 30. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian company Technopromexport, which is part of the Rostec Corporation, has confirmed it is conducting negotiations on the construction of power plants in Iran.

“We confirm that we are engaged in negotiations but no details will be provided,” the company told ITAR-TASS on Monday, June 30.

The Iranian news agency Mehr quoted a Technopromexport official as saying that the company had negotiated the construction of 5 power plants with Iran’s Ministry of Energy.

“Two months after signing an agreement between Islamic Republic and Russia, Technoprom and ministry of energy met in the new rounds of talks on planning, installing, and operating of 5 power plants commissioned in Tehran-Moscow $10 billion agreement,” the news agency said.

A Technopromexport deputy director-general who was visiting the Eastern Azerbaijan province power plants told journalists that the firm had constructed Ahvaz’s Ramin 2100 mW and Isfahan’s Shahid Montazeri 1600 mW power plants, it said.

“Russia is prepared to construct a new 1725 mW power plant in the province,” he said. “If the talks are positive, Technoprom will construct 5 power plants in the vicinity of Sahand power plant in Bonab and Tabriz power plant,” he said, asserting that “the province is an industrially-growing region, which necessitates adding to the number of power plants.”

Mehr said the Technoprom official had also assessed Iran as a “pioneer” country in the Middle East in terms of power plant technology and facilities. “Russian Technoprom has the technical capability to construct natural gas-fired combined-cycle power plant, steam, geothermal turbines, boilers, and supply of spare parts and small units,” the agency quoted him as saying.

In May 2014, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Iran and Russia were discussing $ 10 billion electric power projects.

Russia also helped to build a nuclear power plant in Iran’s Bushehr.

The construction of the first Iranian nuclear power plant in Bushehr was started by the German company Siemens’s branch Kraftwerk Union. However, the work was halted, and the contract was abrogated after the Islamic revolution in Iran in February 1979 and the following beginning of the Iranian-Iraqi armed conflict.

A Russian-Iranian contract was signed on January 8, 1995 to complete the construction of the first power unit in Bushehr, and an addendum to the contract was signed in 1998 for the Russian party to complete the construction of the facilities to be ready to operate.

On December 16, 2007, the first portion of Russian nuclear fuel was delivered to the special storage depot in the power plant territory. The last shipment was delivered on January 28, 2008.

Preparations for the physical launch of the power plant began in August 2010. The first reactor began operating in late November 2010.

In the autumn of last year, a protocol on the transfer of the Bushehr nuclear power plant to Iranian specialists was signed in Iran.

Under the protocol, Russia’s guarantees will apply to the Bushehr nuclear power plant for two years and a certain number of Russian specialists will remain at the power plant to advise the Iranian personnel and provide technical assistance.

Bushehr NPP is the first nuclear power plant not only in Iran but also in the Middle East. With a capacity of 1,000 MW, the plant is located 18 km from the city of Busher on the Persian Gulf.