Iran has started loading fuel into its first nuclear power plant.
The state-run Press TV is reporting that Iran has begun loading fuel into the core of the Bushehr nuclear energy plant.
The development comes as the United States and Europe seek to coax Tehran back into stalled talks about its nuclear enrichment activities which some countries fear is aimed at developing nuclear weapons, Reuters reports.
Iran says the Russian-built, 1000-megawatt nuclear plant will start producing energy in early 2011 after years of delays.
It says its nuclear ambitions are peaceful and not aimed at making an atomic bomb.
Iran insists it needs to enrich uranium - material which can also be used to make weapons if refined much further - to fuel future power stations and a medical research reactor.
