MOSCOW (AFP) – The start-up of the first reactor at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant will be “irreversible” by February next year, a senior Russian nuclear official was quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency as saying Monday.

“Between December 2008 and February 2009 various technical measures will be carried out… that will make the physical start-up process of the first Bushehr reactor irreversible,” the report quoted the head of the Russian company working on the facility, Atomstroiexport, as saying.