Iran began loading nuclear fuel rods into the core of its first nuclear power plant Tuesday, bringing the facility a step closer to producing electricity, Iranian state television and the Los Angeles Times reports.

The start of the weeks-long process lends credence to Iranian claims that a high-profile computer virus attack earlier this year did not significantly postpone the launch of the nuclear plant near the southern Iranian city of Bushehr.

After years of delay, the plant, built in part by Russian engineers, is scheduled to produce electricity early next year, after all 163 of its fuel rods are moved into the reactor core and undergo tests.

"We hope that nuclear electricity would enter the national grid within the next three months," said Ali Akbar Salehi, chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

The 1,000-megawatt Bushehr plant has been under construction since before Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. It was first contracted to a company that later became German industrial giant Siemens; more recently work was done with the help of Russia's state-owned atomic energy company.

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