Iran invites bids for two nuclear plants

The Iranian government is seeking bids to build two nuclear plants near the southern port city of Bushehr, officials in Tehran said Sunday.

The announcement came amid a standoff with the West over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Ahmad Fayyaz-Bakhsh, the deputy chief of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said companies worldwide, including the U.S., could bid on the project, Iran’s Baztab news agency reported. Speaking at a news conference, he said that each plant would cost as much as $1.7 billion and would take more than a decade to build.

A government news release said the planned power plants would have light-water reactors, each capable of generating between 1,000 and 1,600 megawatts of electricity.

Russians are already building a power plant near Bushehr, but the project has been delayed by disputes over payment.

Within its rights

As long as it doesn’t try to acquire nuclear weapons, Iran has the right to produce enriched nuclear material under the observation of international inspectors, according to the terms of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

However, both international inspectors and U.S. officials have accused Iran of secretly seeking to acquire the ability to manufacture nuclear weapons, and last month the United Nations Security Council imposed additional sanctions on Iran because of its continued program of uranium enrichment.

Though no one has yet charged that the proposed light-water reactors at Bushehr could be used for building nuclear weapons, Iran’s request for bids Sunday was seen as a barometer of Washington’s efforts to isolate the Tehran government.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last week that Iran now has the capacity to enrich uranium on an “industrial scale.” However, nuclear experts were doubtful of the claims, which some saw as a political ploy for more bargaining power with the United States.

Hurdles to talks

International experts and diplomats have called for Washington and Tehran to sit down and settle their differences over a number of issues, including security in Iraq.

Iranian officials have demanded the release of five countrymen seized in Iraq during a raid by U.S. troops in January. Iran says the detainees are consular officials, while the Americans say the five have links to a faction of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard that is suspected of providing aid to militants in Iraq.

On Sunday night, state-controlled Iranian television and radio broadcast an interview with Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. He said he had recent “indications” that the five would soon be released but did not elaborate.

Earlier in the day, a ministry spokesman suggested to reporters that Iran may boycott a conference on Iraq to be held in Egypt next month if the diplomats were not freed.

roug@latimes.com

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Special correspondent Mostaghim reported from Tehran and Times staff writer Roug from Beirut.