Iran is to launch its first nuclear power reactor next week, the Islamic republic and Russia which helped build the plant said on Friday after years of delays to the highly sensitive project. "We are preparing to transfer the fuel inside the plant next week... Then we will need seven to eight days to transfer it to the reactor (core)," said Iran's atomic energy chief, Ali Akbar Salehi. "On August 21, the fuel will be transferred inside the building in which the engine" of the Bushehr power station in southern Iran is located, he said, quoted by Iran's Fars news agency. Salehi added that Iran had invited inspectors from the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to attend the launch ceremony. "The fuel is sealed and IAEA inspectors must be present to remove them," he said.