A senior Iranian atomic official said Sunday that Iran has begun design work on a new 360 megawatt nuclear power plant. The plant is scheduled to be built in the southwest Iranian area of Darkhovin.

Iran has yet to complete construction of its first nuclear power plant, which is being built by Russia in the port city of Bushehr.  That plant will have a 1,000 megawatt capacity.  Iran has said it wants to build nuclear power plants with a total capacity of 20,000 megawatts by 2020.

Iranian officials say Iran, which sits on the world's second largest reserves of gas and oil, wants nuclear energy so it can export more of its hydrocarbons.

Iran has been warned to cancel its nuclear project by the United Nations and by several Western countries, but has continued on the path toward nuclear capability.