Despite leading Western opposition to the Islamic republic's project to enrich uranium in defiance of four sets of UN sanctions, the United States said it saw no "proliferation risk" from the new plant.

Western nations suspect that Iranian uranium enrichment masks a weapons drive, a charge strongly denied by Tehran.

After three-and-a-half decades of delay, engineers finally began transferring the atomic fuel supplied by Russia in the presence of UN inspectors into the plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.

"Despite all pressures, sanctions and hardships forced by Western nations, we are witnessing Iran's peaceful nuclear activities through the start of the Bushehr power plant," Iran's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Darby Holladay told AFP the one-billion-dollar reactor "underscores that Iran does not need an indigenous enrichment capability if its intentions are purely peaceful."

"We recognise that the Bushehr reactor is designed to provide civilian nuclear power and do not view it as a proliferation risk," Holladay said.

Russian nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko, in Bushehr for Saturday's ceremony, said that the "countdown" for the actual running of the nuclear power plant had now begun.

"Today is a great day and we have entered the physical launch of the Bushehr plant," he said.

Kiriyenko later said the Bushehr facility, which is not targeted under UN or other sanctions, was built under the supervision of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors.

Any "country which sticks by IAEA norms and safety regulations has the right to peaceful nuclear technology," he said.

In Vienna, the IAEA said it continued to monitor the Bushehr plant.

"The Agency is taking the appropriate verification measures in line with its established safeguards procedures," press officer Ayhan Evrensel said in a statement.

Saturday's much-anticipated fuel loading comes despite Moscow, a long-time nuclear ally of Tehran, hardening its position on Iran's nuclear programme.

In June, Russia backed the fourth round of UN sanctions against Iran for enriching uranium, the most controversial aspect of its atomic drive.

Iran says it is enriching uranium to power nuclear reactors so they can eventually generate electricity of around 20,000 megawatts.

Despite being OPEC's second-largest crude oil exporter and having the world's second-largest gas reserves, Iran insists it needs nuclear power for a rapidly growing population and for when its fossil fuels eventually run out.

Last week, Salehi said the fuel transfer would be complete by September 5. Russia has supplied 82 tonnes of fuel for Bushehr and plans to reprocess the spent material.

The plant's actual commissioning is expected in October or November when it connects to the national grid.

Britain and the United States, meanwhile, reiterated their concerns on Saturday over Iran's nuclear programme.

"Until Iran suspends its proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities and responds in full to IAEA concerns about potential military dimensions, it will be in contravention of six UNSC (UN Security Council) resolutions and have to bear the economic cost of sanctions," a Foreign Office minister said in London.

And Holladay said the UN atomic watchdog's access to Bushehr was separate from Iran's broader obligations. "The IAEA has consistently reported Iran remains in serious violation of its obligations," he said.

Salehi on Saturday reiterated that Iran is searching for locations for 10 new uranium enrichment sites.

"We might start building one of the sites next year if the president (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) says. But this is not definitive yet.

"All depends on the opinion of the president and the government and we move on in this regard patiently and slowly," Salehi said.

German contractors from Siemens began work on the Bushehr plant in the 1970s under the rule of the US-backed shah.

The project was shelved when the shah was toppled in the 1979 Islamic revolution, but was revived a decade later under current supreme leader Ali Khamenei. In 1994, Russia agreed to complete its construction.

burs/srm/hc

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