Iran eyes 20,000 MW of nuclear power by 2020

Manila Times.net
Published : Saturday, March 17, 2012 00:00 Written by : Rommel C. Lontayao, Reporter


THE Iranian government estimates that it can produce 20,000 megawatts of nuclear power by 2020.


Ali Asghar Mohammadi, Iran’s Ambassador to the Philippines, told The Manila Times during an exclusive roundtable that Iran is looking to generate this much power from its nuclear facilities.


At the same time, he took the opportunity to clarify that nuclear facilities in their country are being utilized for power generation purposes and not for military weapons. He said that Iran has no nuclear armament.


Mohammadi added that Iran’s operation of nuclear facilities is based solely on the need to become economically independent.


“Energy generation costs a lot today. But nuclear power produces more energy than any other sources. Since we have a lot of good scientists in this field of technology and we are capable of running the system, we might as well use it,” the ambassador said.


Mohammadi added that the use of nuclear energy as source of power is becoming a necessity to meet the growing demand in the face of the depletion of other sources of power.


“We need to generate more power through these means because oil is depleting, not only in the Middle East, but in all parts of the world,” the diplomat said.


Mohammadi added that while Iran is eyeing an increase in power generation in eight years, it is also aware that it must invest for the safety of its nuclear facilities, especially considering last year’s nuclear plant incident in Fukushima, Japan.


“Iran is also investing time and money to assure the safety of its nuclear facilities. We have been quite careful because it is very important,” he said.