Iran starts key step in building second nuclear power plant

Iran started pouring concrete on Sunday at its second nuclear power plant, a key step in building the facility with Russian help in the southern port of Bushehr, state television reported.

"Nuclear power provides reliable electricity... and each power plant saves us 11 million barrels of oil or $660 million per year," Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said in a televised ceremony.

The United States plans to allow Russian, Chinese and European companies to continue work at Iranian nuclear facilities to make it harder for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, two sources familiar with the matter said in late October.