Fereydoon Abbasi Davani, the head of the Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, has announced through state television that the country will build a new 1,000 megawatt nuclear power plant near Bushehr in addition to its sole existing plant, to will be completed by 2014. The Mehr and ISNA news agencies reported that the construction will start next year, with another plan for a 360-megawatt facility in Darkhovin underway for the coming years, after European sanctions stalled the project.

The current nuclear plant was initiated by German engineers in the 1970s and completed by Russia, which provided fuels to help in the operation. The announcement was made amidst talks in Baghdad over its nuclear programme, where the six world powers were unable to get concessions from Iran.

Iran insists that its nuclear program is “exclusively peaceful”, used for producing medical isotopes for cancer patients and boost electricity production.