A senior Iranian nuclear official said on Sunday that Iran would issue tenders for the construction of two new nuclear power plants in the southern city of Bushehr.

"The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran will issue international tenders for the construction of two nuclear power plants in Bushehr," the agency's deputy chief Ahmad Fayyaz-Bakhsh told a news conference.

The tenders will be issued in the next few days for the two nuclear power plants with the capacity of 1,000 to 1,600 megawatts of electricity each, he said.

Russian and some European companies have expressed willingness to take part in the tenders, the Iranian official added.

Located in southwestern Iran, Bushehr is the location of Iran's first nuclear power plant which is being built by a Russian contractor.

But work at the plant has been long delayed since Russia and Iran signed a one-billion-U.S.-dollar contract for the construction of the plant in 1995.

Source: Xinhua