AEOI head Ali Akbar Salehi. Photo: Wikipedia.

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced that Tehran is already advancing plans to build the country’s second nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran’s semi-official news agency Fars reported on Monday.

“The contract for building two [new nuclear] power plants has been inked with Russia and the preliminary steps and their designing have already started,” Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters.

Russia has already aided Iran in building a nuclear power plant in Bushehr, a southern province of the Islamic Republic. According to Salehi, the construction of this second power plant with Russian aid, “will begin by the end of this [Iranian] year,” which began on March 21.

Salehi also claimed that plans for a third nuclear plant are also in the works.