Iran to seek bids for two atomic power plants

[jpak]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2007-04-15T101632Z_01_BLA525163_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAN-NUCLEAR-TENDER.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran, embroiled in a row with the West over its nuclear ambitions, will issue tenders in the next few days for two new atomic power plants, a senior official said on Sunday.

Ahmad Fayazbakhsh, an official at Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said the power plants would each have capacity for 1,000 to 1,600 MW and would be built at Bushehr, the southwest port city where Russians are building Iran's first atomic plant.

The West fears Iran's civilian nuclear plans are a smokescreen for a military program, a charge Tehran denies.

"Two international tenders in the coming days will be issued by Iran's Atomic Energy Organization ... and they (the two plants) will be built at Bushehr," Fayazbakhsh, in charge of the nuclear power reactors at the Atomic Energy Organisation, said.

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[flobee1]

1. would be funny if KBR won the bid

or Haliburton

[Jim Sagle]

2. wouldn't be surprising though