Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi says Iran and Russia are set to take serious action for the construction of two more nuclear power plants in the Islamic Republic.

�A serious move is to start construction of these power plants during the current year,� Salehi said on Sunday, referring to Iran's calendar year which started on March 21.

�We will need 13,000 technicians and engineers� to construct the two 1,000-megawatt plants in the southern Iranian port city of Bushehr, Salehi said, adding that the two nuclear plants will cost over USD 10 billion.

He also said that Iran is in talks with another country to build a number of 100-megawatt nuclear plants to supply both drinking water and electricity in the coastal strip of Makran, along the coast of the Sea of Oman.

Salehi noted that 100-megawatt power plants would cost USD 2 billion each.

In November 2014, Tehran and Moscow struck a deal to build eight more nuclear power plants in Iran.

Russia has already built a power plant in Bushehr. The agreement for Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant was finalized in 1995, but the project was delayed several times due to a number of technical and financial problems.

The 1,000-megawatt plant, which is operating under the full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reached its maximum power generation capacity in August 2012.

In September 2013, Iran officially took over from Russia the first unit of its first 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant for two years.

By Press TV