TEHRAN — Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant has been temporarily shutdown for technical overhaul, Iranian state TV said on Sunday.

"It has been temporarily shutdown since yesterday for technical overhaul which will continue for a few days," an official told state TV.

Gholamali Rakhshanimehr, an official from the state electric energy company, said on a talk show that the Bushehr plant shutdown began on Saturday and would last “for three to four days.”

This is the first time Iran has reported an emergency shutdown of the plant, located in the southern port city of Bushehr. It went online in 2011 with help from Russia.

In March, nuclear official Mahmoud Jafari said the plant could stop working since Iran cannot procure parts and equipment for it from Russia due to banking sanctions imposed by the US in 2018.

Bushehr is fueled by uranium produced in Russia, not Iran, and is monitored by the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The plant, which sits near active fault lines and was built to withstand powerful quakes, has been periodically shaken by temblors. There have been no significant earthquakes reported in the area in recent days. — Agencies