Iran has announced on Tuesday morning the injection of fuel into the core of the reactor at Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran.

Iranian and Russian engineers started moving nuclear fuel into the main reactor building in August but a reported leak in a storage pool delayed injection of the fuel into the reactor.

Iran says the 1,000 megawatt nuclear plant, built with the help of Russia, will begin generating electricity in early 2011 after years of delays.

A total of 163 fuel rods are gradually to be injected into the Russian-built, 1,000-megawatt reactor, the news agency said.

The power plant’s construction has been marred by delays that led to a cooling of relations between Russia and Iran.

Bushehr is to start producing energy in 2011, Iran said