Contractor: Iran reactor not ready as scheduled by end 2008

    MOSCOW, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran's first nuclear power plant, Bushehr, will not be completed and operational as scheduled by the end of next year, the Russian media cited the Russian contractor as saying on Thursday.

    "The plant's launch cannot be guaranteed before the end of 2008," Sergei Shmatko, president of the Atomstroy export company that is building the plant, said during a visit to China.

    Shmatko said that Russia and Iran have agreed on the new schedule for the completion of the Bushehr plant, but he refused to specify the dates.

    Russia has delivered the first batch of nuclear fuel to Iran this week following year-long negotiations, and all the fuels are expected to be shipped within two months.

    It is reported that six months after the shipment is finished, tests would start on launching the station itself, but it is not known how long the tests will last.