A worker sealing drums of yellowcake at ERA’s Ranger uranium mine.

Russia on Tuesday signed a deal with Iran to build two new nuclear reactors at the Iranian Bushehr plant and expand the total number of reactors in the country to eight, Russian news agencies reported.

Besides Bushehr, four Russian reactors could be built elsewhere in Iran, and the two countries would also look into “producing components of nuclear fuel in Iran,” local news agencies said, citing a statement from Russia’s state-owned nuclear company Rosatom.

The agreement precedes a Nov. 24 deadline for a deal at talks between Iran and world powers that would curb Tehran’s nuclear programme, which the West says may be aimed at building atomic weapons but Iran says is for peaceful purposes.

Russia, which is involved in those talks, considers producing nuclear fuel components there, according to the memorandum signed by the heads of the state atomic bodies, Sergey Kirienko of Russia’s Rosatom and Ali Akbar Salehi of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation (AEOI).

Iran already runs one Russian-built reactor in its Bushehr power plant.

 
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