Iran: Second nuclear power plant in design stage

Iran's official news agency says the country has begun designing its second nuclear power plant, a 360-megawatt facility in southwestern Iran. The IRNA news agency is quoting Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, as saying that experts have chosen the site where the light-water nuclear reactor will be built using local technology. Iran has yet to finish construction of its first nuclear power plant, a 1,000-megawatt reactor in the southern city of Bushehr being built with Russian help. It is to begin operating early next year. Iran has said for years that it was planning to build a 360-megawatt nuclear power plant in Darkhovin, in Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran.