Deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Saeedi said in Tehran on Sunday that his country is designing a 360-megawatt nuclear power plant, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The new power plant, the country's second one, will be constructed in Darkhoin, a city in southwestern province of Khuzestan, Saeedi said, adding that "the site has been chosen and the preparation process is under way."

"Gradually the complementary design phase and its building will begin," he said.

Russia is helping Iran to build the country's first nuclear power plant in the southern port of Bushehr. The plant was expected to launch early this year, but its operation was postponed for several months due to disputes on payment.

Russian ambassador to Tehran Alexander Sadovnikov said Saturday that Bushehr nuclear power plant will be completed by the end of 2008.

Iran is preparing to build more nuclear power plants, the official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday.

Ahmad Fayyazbakhsh, deputy chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization and head of a state-owned nuclear energy production company said that his company signed an agreement with six local companies, assigning them to hunt for potential sites for new nuclear power plants within 13 months.

The United States and its Western allies fear that Tehran is trying to build nuclear weapons. But Iran insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2008)