Iran Seeks Chinese Small-scale Nuclear Power Plant Technology

Iran wants China’s help to develop small-scale nuclear power plants indigenously.

“In order to go towards the production of small-scale power plants, we need to use technical knowledge from another country. Our foreign policy's good relationship with China should end with the issue of producing small-scale nuclear power plants in Iran and transferring indigenous knowledge of these power plants to the country through a long-term program,” Mohammad Fahimpour, an energy expert, told Iranian military-controlled Fars News Agency.

He said the country needs 20,000 megawatt nuclear power plants. “The development of 20,000 megawatts of nuclear power plant capacity is a requirement for our national power grid and this goal must be achieved in order to reduce the dependence of the power grid on fossil fuels.”

Creating such a plant could cost $100-120 billion, Fahimpour said. He added that Iran should “build two small-scale power plants and earn money from generating electricity to power other reactors.”

The U.S. and South Korea have produced 75MW models. China has developed 100MW model that is still in the mass production stage.