Iran's Russia-built atomic plant to start up Sept '07

[maddezmom]

Italian Premier Romano Prodi, right, and Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, are all smiles prior to their talks at Chigi Palace in Rome Friday, Sept. 8, 2006, a day before planned talks with the EU over Tehran's nuclear dossier. The two officials are expected to discuss the international standoff with Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. Iran insists its nuclear program is only for peaceful energy production, but the United States and some European nations believe the regime is seeking nuclear weapons. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)



LONDON (Reuters) - The atomic reactor Russia is building for Iran at Bushehr is scheduled to start up in September next year, Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia's atomic energy agency, said on Friday.

"A realistic deadline (for transmitting power to the grid) is November 2007. This means a physical start-up (of the reactor) in September and the dispatch of fuel ... six months earlier," he told Reuters in an interview.

"That means March or April."

Russia has consistently postponed the opening date for the plant, citing technical difficulties caused by the need to build it on the foundations of a differently designed station started before the 1979 Iranian revolution.

Washington has long pushed for Russia to stop building the atomic plant for Iran, which it accuses of seeking nuclear arms.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060908/wl_nm/iran_nuclear_dc

[jpak]

1. We now know the window of opportunity for attacking this facility

If that plant starts operating, it will quickly build a large inventory of highly radioactive fission products.

If the US or Israel attacks this plant while it's operating, it will be a nuclear disaster rivaling Chernobyl.

They have 1 year...