"Following a technical fault at Bushehr power plant, and after a one-day notice to the Ministry of Energy, the plant was temporarily shut down and taken off the power grid," read a statement from the organization.
The statement added that the plant will reopen after the technical difficulty is fixed “within the next few days.”
Bushehr power plant is Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), since 2011, “it is calculated that its operation has prevented the consumption of 11.244 billion m3 (cubic meter) of natural gas, equivalent to 66.7 million barrels of crude oil, and the release of 37.7 million tonnes of pollutant or greenhouse gases into the environment.”
The IAEA also reported that in 2019, Bushehr nuclear power plant unit one provided 1.89 percent of the country’s electricity.
This is the first time the nuclear power plant has reported a shutdown since going online in 2011.
Iran's nuclear facilities have come under attack several times, which Israel has indirectly claimed to be behind some of them. Despite this, there is no evidence linking the Bushehr power plant shutdown to attacks or infiltration.
“It was important to us that the world will see this, but this thing should also resonate with the Iranian leadership, to tell them, ‘Dear friends: One, you have been infiltrated. Two, we are (watching you). Three, the era of...lies is over,’” former Israeli Mossad intelligence service chief Yossi Cohen said earlier this month on infiltrating the Iranian nuclear program through non-Israeli agents.
The Israeli comment comes as the two countries have shared years of conflict over Iran’s nuclear program, with Israel claiming that Iran is building a nuclear bomb, and Iran claiming that their nuclear program is peaceful.
Iran signed a cooperation agreement with Russia for the peaceful use of nuclear power in 1992, and over the years, both countries have continued their cooperation. Based on a 10-year contract signed between Iran and Russian company TENEX, Iran supplies Russia with nuclear fuel for ten years.
As Iran has shut down its only active power plant, talks in Vienna are ongoing aimed at bringing the US back to the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and for Iran to return to full compliance with its nuclear obligations.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister on Sunday voiced optimism on the last day of the sixth round of Vienna talks to revive Iran’s nuclear deal, saying a deal is closer than ever.
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