Iran begins building the 300 MW Karun nuclear power plant in Khuzestan

Iran has started building the 300 MW Karun nuclear power plant, located in the south-western Iranian province of Khuzestan, according to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). The nuclear plant, designed by Iran, will be equipped with Iranian technologies. The power plant is expected to be operational by 2030. A 24 MW CHP power facility is also being constructed on the site for a desalination plant.

The Karun nuclear plant project has been in the planning stage for decades, as Iran had signed in the 1970s a US$2bn contract with the French company Framatome to build two 910 MW pressurized water reactors. France withdrew from the project after the Islamic Revolution. In 1992, Iran signed an agreement with China to build two 300 MW reactors at the site, but China withdrew from the project as well. The project was subsequently taken up by Iran itself through its nuclear programme.

At the end of 2022, nuclear represented about 1% of Iran’s total installed capacity. The country’s first nuclear reactor, the 915 MW Bushehr nuclear plant Unit 1, was commissioned after different delays in 2011. Iran is also expanding the Bushehr plant, where two 1 GW units are under development. In July 2023, the Iranian government announced the start of initial works to develop five new nuclear power plants in the country, which will total a capacity of 20 GW, by 2041.