Page 72 - IRANRptSep22

Iran sets aside $40bn in reserves for nuclear power construction programme
Iran’s state budget for the next Persian calendar year (starts late March 2022) sets aside the equivalent of $40bn in reserves for the construction of nuclear power plants, Mehr News Agency reported.
Iran boasts the 1,000 MW Bushehr nuclear power plant—the first such civilian facility in the Middle East—that was connected to the grid in 2013, and the drought experienced by the country this year, its worst in 50 years, and climate change considerations appear to have brought home to officials the need to accelerate the construction of more such power plants. Iranians endured substantial power cuts during the hottest months as a lack of rainfall meant much of Iran’s hydroelectricity capacity could not be deployed.
Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, was quoted as saying by Mehr that the construction of additional nuclear power plant capacity would likely begin in the next Persian year. Projects would be financed with foreign investment, domestic financing, government resources and the acquisition of fixed assets, he said. An executive funding plan is to be prepared by the AEOI in cooperation with the Planning and Budgetary Organization (PBO) and the Ministry of Finance and Economy. The status of US sanctions applied to Iran will clearly be a consideration where foreign funding is concerned.
Iran’s nuclear industry, which started making a name for itself in the 1970s, remains under the scrutiny of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with the major powers concerned that the Iranians keep it entirely civilian, something Tehran insists it is committed to ensuring.
Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian said in November that his ministry was pursuing an electricity provisioning programme to add 30,000 MW to Iran’s generating capacity by the end of the current government's term, which will come in August 2025. Some 21 power plant units would be brought into operation nationwide during the upcoming Persian year, he told parliament.
9.1.12 Utilities sector news
Hundreds take to streets in Hamedan, Iran to protest over complete halt in water supplies
Hundreds of people have taken to the streets in the western Iranian city of Hamedan to demonstrate over a complete halt in water supplies that has lasted several days, Radio Farda reported on August 24.
Unverified social media video footage featured protesters labelling officials “incompetent” amid a water crisis that has intensified in the summer heat. Protests over water scarcity in Iran have become quite commonplace in the past two or three years, with the impacts of climate change combining with questionable water management to leave many regions exposed to a severe lack of water, especially given persistent drought that is afflicting the country. In June, Abadan, in southwestern Iran, recorded one of the hottest days on Earth since records began, registering 52.2°C (126°F).
Water difficulties and associated protests have also been seen in locations such as Shahrekord in central Iran and Hamedan in western Iran in recent weeks. The governor of Hamedan came under fire for not rationing water in order to prevent a crisis. He blamed energy ministry officials for rejecting rationing.
The Iranian Meteorological Organisation has calculated that 97% of the country is experiencing drought to some degree, RFE/RL reported.
Officials who have encouraged water “thirsty” rice farming in parts of the country exposed to water scarcity are among other government representatives who have felt the fury of Iranians left with dry taps.
Flash floods, meanwhile, which can quickly form on parched, bone-dry ground caused by heatwaves, have claimed the lives of scores of people in Iran this
72 IRAN Country Report September 2022 www.intellinews.com