Tehran, Dec 4 (IANS): Iran began on Saturday the construction of a new nuclear power plant in its southwestern province of Khuzestan.

Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and some local officials witnessed the start of construction of the 300-megawatt Karoon nuclear power plant, which will install a pressurised light water reactor that uses 4-per cent enriched uranium oxide as the fuel, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a Nour news agency report.

Iran has started building nuclear power plants at "a high speed", Eslami said, adding the Karoon plant will help Iran reach the goal of increasing the share of nuclear energy to about 20 per cent of the overall electricity basket.

Iran plans to spend $1.5 to 2 billion and eight years to build the Karoon plant, according to Nour news agency.

The 1,000-megawatt Bushehr nuclear power plant, which is the first civilian nuclear power plant in Iran, began supplying electricity in September 2011 with the cooperation of Russia.