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Khatami says nuclear plant will create 3,500 jobs

TEHRAN, Feb 17 (AFP) - Iranian President Mohammed Khatami vowed Wednesday to press ahead with the controversial Bushehr nuclear power plant, saying it would provide thousands of jobs and show the world Iran's technical capabilities.

"We have decided to make the Bushehr plant a brilliant star in our economy and if God wills it the plant will create 3,500 jobs," Khatami said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

He said that when the facility begins operation, "the people of Iran will show they are capable of making progress in all domains."

The Bushehr plant -- which will provide some 1,000 megawatts of electricity after completion of the first phase -- is being built by Russian engineers and both Tehran and Moscow insist it is solely for civil purposes and conforms to international laws and nuclear non-proliferation accords.

Under a cooperation accord it signed with Iran in 1995, Russia agreed to build two pressurised water reactors at Bushehr. Under a new accord signed last November, Moscow agreed to speed up completion of the plants.

The project was originally started in the 1970s by the KWU nuclear subsidiary of giant German combine Siemens but they withdrew under pressure from Bonn following the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Washington is strongly opposed to Moscow's technologicial collaboration with Tehran, charging that it has resulted in the transfer of nuclear and missile technology.

But Tehran has pressed ahead with the project and advertisements in the Tehran press last month from the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization said a total of 225 engineers were needed with expertise in the fields of nuclear physics, physics, mechanical engineering and computer science.

The adverts said that the applicants must be Iranian nationals and that the successful candidates will be sent to Russia for training.

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