Iran said on Saturday its first atomic power plant built by Russia in Bushehr has begun operations, ahead of a new round of talks with Western powers over the country’s controversial nuclear drive.

“Without any propaganda and fuss we sealed the cover of the reactor and all the fuel rods are in the core of the reactor,” atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said.

But Salehi said the authorities in the Islamic republic “hope that electricity produced at the Bushehr plant will be connected to the national grid in a month or two.”

Iran says it needs the plant, which had been under construction since the 1970’s in the southern port city of Bushehr before it was completed by Russia, to meet growing demand for electricity.

But Western governments suspect Iran’s nuclear programme masks a drive for an atomic weapons capability, an ambition Tehran has steadfastly denied.

Salehi’s announcement come ahead of the likely resumption of stalled negotiations between world powers and Iran on Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme in Geneva on 5th December.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said this week she had received “informal confirmations” from Iran about the date and location for the talks, “but I want a formal confirmation.”