Iran to build second nuclear power plant

Iran has plans to produce more electricity by building a second nuclear energy plant in the country's Bushehr province where the first plant was built, said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Sunday.

"Based on our estimates, the second nuclear power plant will be built in the same province," Rouhani said, reported Xinhua.

In November, Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation chief Ali Akbar Salehi said his country would start building its second nuclear power plant in near future in cooperation with Russia.

"We hope to start the construction of the country's second nuclear power plant at the beginning of the new Iranian calendar year 1393, starting on March 21, 2014, in cooperation with the Russians," Salehi said.

Iran's first nuclear power plant, the Bushehr plant, was first constructed in 1975 by several German companies.

However, the work was halted when the US imposed an embargo on hi-tech supplies to Iran after the 1979 revolution. Russia signed a contract with Iran to complete the construction in 1998.