(AhlulBayt News Agency) - A small leak in a pool near the reactor caused a delay in starting up Iran's first nuclear power plant but it has now been fixed, a senior official was quoted as saying on Monday.
Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, also said the delay had nothing to do with the global Stuxnet computer virus believed mainly to have affected Iran.
Last week, Iranian officials said Stuxnet had hit staff computers at Bushehr. But the virus had not affected major systems there, they said.
Security experts say the release of Stuxnet may have been a state-backed attack on Iran's nuclear programme, most likely originating in the United States or Israel, which often threaten an attack on Iran.
When Iran began loading fuel into Bushehr in August, officials said it would take two to three months for the plant to start producing electricity and that it would generate 1,000 megawatts, about 2.5 percent of the country's power usage.
But Salehi said last week the fuel would soon be transferred to the core of the reactor and the plant would begin supplying energy in 2011, signalling a delay in its start-up.
He gave further details on Monday, saying "a small leak was observed in a pool next to the reactor and was curbed," the official IRNA news agency reported.
Salehi added: "This leak caused the activities to be delayed for a few days. The leak has been fixed and the core of the reactor is working properly."
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