Oct 18 - BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union

Specialists of the Rosenergoatom [Russia's nuclear plants operator] education and training centre in Novovoronezh will finish training Iranian nuclear engineers in 2007. Ten instructors from Novovoronezh "are carrying out final training of Iranian specialists on the premises of the nuclear power plant that is under construction in Bushehr", the head of the centre, Aleksandr Ivanchenko, told ITAR-TASS today.

About 700 engineers have been trained in Russia for work at the first Iranian nuclear power plant. Iranian specialists attended a theoretical course in Novovoronezh and practised on the special panel for nuclear generator control.

They also received compulsory practical training at Russian nuclear power plants, where the same units with the VVER-1000 nuclear reactors are installed. A similar unit is being installed by Russian builders in Bushehr. The last stage of the training is practical training at the nuclear power plant in Iran.

The Rosenergoatom's centre in Novovoronezh is the only training centre in Russia where specialists are trained to operate the VVER- 1000 nuclear reactor. Apart from Russian and Iranian engineers, specialists from China, India and Bulgaria have been trained or retrained there. In all the countries mentioned, nuclear power plants were built or are being built with the help of Russia.

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