The spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization, Behrouz Kamalvandi, announced that the Bushehr nuclear power plant was turned off for necessary repairs and replacing some of its fuel.

According to ISNA, Kamalvandi said: “Based on the schedule, the nuclear plant will temporarily shut down for almost two months and will not contribute to the national electricity network.”

Regarding the timing, Kamalvand stated: “It would have been better for the plant to do these in the Summer, but in order to help the ministry of energy in providing electricity at the peak time of the year, we pulled the annual repairs back to March when we have the least electricity consumption.”

However, some reports indicate that the reason for turning off the nuclear plant is the inability to pay the necessary costs and also the produced electricity not being worth its cost.

Last week, the deputy chair of the Atomic Energy Organization had said: “Next year, due to the low price of selling electricity, we will not be able to manage the nuclear plant with the current conditions. The government used to partially subsidize the expenses of the plant in previous years, but due to the high value of foreign currency, that subsidy is not enough, and if no serious measures are taken, next year the plant might not be working.”

Bushehr nuclear powerplant is the first and only non-military nuclear plant in Iran. The plans for the plant were drawn and the construction had started before the revolution, and it was supposed to start production by 1985. The plant started producing electricity in 2011.