Iran has warned that it was prepared to complete the Bushehr nuclear power plant by itself if the Russian contractor failed to finish the job, the Tehran Times reported on Tuesday.

Iranian Vice President Gholamreza Aqazadeh and Atomic Energy Organization Director issued the warning in Moscow on Monday.

He dismissed a report that Iran and Russia had set November 2007 as the date for bringing the nuclear plant on stream, saying Tehran believes that the plant could become operational in six months.

Aqazadeh was in Moscow to discuss a timetable for delivery of the nuclear fuel and startup of the plant.

"We haven't made a deal on this issue, in our point of view, five or six months are needed to finish the work," said Aqazadeh.

Russian contractor Atomstroiexport has been building Bushehr's first unit in line with a 1 billion-dollar contract signed by Russia and Iran in 1995. According to Aqazadeh, up to now, the project is 90 percent complete.

Atomic Energy Organization Deputy Director Mohammad Saeedi, after a meeting between Aqazadeh and Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia's Federal Nuclear Power Agency, on Monday, said that negotiations were incomplete and after a sum-up of technical issues, which were to be discussed Monday night, Aqazadeh and Kiriyenko would reach an agreement on the exact date for start-up of the plant on Tuesday.

"In this round of talks, the two sides cited obstacles for a quick start-up of the Bushehr plant," said Saeedi.

He said that main obstacles included manufacture and installation of equipment for the plant.

Russians are trying to convince the Iranian side to agree to a start-up date in November 2007, said Saeedi, adding "Mr. Aqazadeh insisted today (Monday) that we can factor in less time for making the plant operational since the main equipment had already been installed."

The Bushehr plant was previously scheduled to become operational by the end of 2006.

Source: Xinhua