Salehi announced today that Iran will produce up to 3,000 megawatts of nuclear electricity by 2027, which will avert emission of 21 million tons of pollutant gases.

Making the remarks during the ceremony to start laying the concrete foundations of the second unit of Bushehr nuclear power plant, the AEOI chief added that Bushehr plant will help the country save $660 million per year.

Describing that each nuclear power plant can stay online for about 60 years and more, Salehi added that each plant costs $5 billion and can return its initial construction costs in six years after becoming operational.

The Iranian official also informed that Bushehr plant, which is safe and secure, can provide local residents with 200,000 to 400,000 cubic meters of potable water in the future.

Concrete placement in foundations of the second unit of Bushehr nuclear power plant kicked off on Sunday in the presence of Salehi, some Iranian officials and the President of ASE Group of Companies of the Russian Federation's power equipment and service exporter, Atomstroyexport, Alexander Lokshin.

On November 2, the IAEO chief underscored that Iran will continue its discovery and extraction plans powerfully and that under JCPOA, the country had not abdicated its rights but had only accepted time and numerical restrictions.

As previously reported, the second unit of the Bushehr nuclear power plant is scheduled to come on stream in 6 years, while the third unit will be finished in 8 years.

The 2nd and 3rd units of the Bushehr plant will increase the share of nuclear power in Iran’s electricity supply to amounts well beyond the current 2.7 percent.

In November 2014, the Nuclear Power Production and Development Company of Iran (NPPD) and Russia’s Atomstroiexport signed two contracts to work on parts of the 2nd and 3rd units.

A total of $10 billion has been allocated for the construction of the two units.

The capacity of the second phase is expected to stand above 1,000 megawatts (MW). The total capacity of the two units of WWER-1,000 (Water-Water Energetic Reactor) will be 2,100 megawatts.

Last November, it was announced that the first unit of Bushehr nuclear power plant had generated a sum of 3.456mln MW of electricity in the first six months of the local calendar year (March 21, 2018-September 22, 2018).

the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced that 3.14mlnMW of the power generated at the plant had been transferred to the country's power grid.

The Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant started operating in Iran in 2011 and reached full capacity the following year.

The project for Bushehr-2 was presented by Russian nuclear experts in Tehran in September, 2014. In November, Iran signed a number of deals with Russia for the construction of two more nuclear reactors and an option for an additional six.

In February 2017, AEOI Chief Ali Akbar Salehi said two new nuclear reactors are scheduled to be built in the city of Bushehr.

"In the construction of nuclear power plants…we hopefully, within the next few months, will be witnessing the launching of new reactors," Salehi said.

He added that Tehran and Moscow had signed agreements for the construction of two reactors in Bushehr.