Russia�s State Atomic Energy Corporation, Rosatom, will start work on Iran�s Bushehr-2 nuclear power plant by the end of this year after the construction site preparations are completed.

�We hope that the Iranian side will identify seismic parameters at�the site so we could start work on�several new blocks already before�this year is out,� a source at Rosatom said on�Thursday.

Russia has already built a power plant in�Bushehr. The agreement for�the construction of�the Bushehr nuclear power plant was finalized in�1995, but�the project was delayed several times due to�a number of�technical and financial issues.

�Even with�the international sanctions now lifted and foreign investors coming in, Iran still prefers to�deal with�its trusted partner, Russia,� Mahmoud Shoori, head of�the Eurasia Program at�the Center for�Strategic Research in�Tehran, told Radio Sputnik.

Mahmoud Shoori said that after�the construction and launch of�the first stage of�the Bushehr plant, Iran realized that it needed at�least two more units and decided to�give the job to�Russia�s Rosatom.

�Our longtime experience of�productive cooperation with�Russia and the technological potential Russia demonstrated during�the construction of�Bushehr-1 convinced us that we had made the right choice.� Mahmoud Shoori said.

�Russia has a clear edge over�all other potential contractors and we are certain that Russia is taking this job very seriously and is a partner we can trust,� Mahmoud Shoori emphasized.

Bushehr-1� was launched in�September 2011 and 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 plants for�two years and in�November 2014 the two countries signed an agreement whereby Russia was commissioned to�build another four units total.

By Sputnik News