Russia completes nuclear fuel delivery to Iran: report

Russia has completed delivering fuel for Iran's first nuclear power plant in the Gulf port of Bushehr on Monday, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"With the last consignment, Russia has fully delivered the 82 tonnes of fuel enriched by 1.6 to 3.6 percents along with the supplementary equipment," said a statement from Iran's Organisation for Production and Development of Nuclear Energy.

Monday's delivery was the eighth consignment of fuel, which Russia began delivering on December 17.

Late last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the Bushehr reactor would be working at 50 percent capacity by mid-2008.

However the Russian constructors insist that the 1,000-megawatt plant will not go on line until the end of the year.

After delivering the first shipment of fuel, Russia said Iran no longer needed to pursue its own uranium enrichment, a message repeated by US President George W. Bush.AFP