Iran's southern Bushehr nuclear power plant has been temporarily shut down over a "technical fault," the country's atomic energy body said in a statement around Sunday midnight. 

"Following a technical fault at Bushehr power plant, and after a one-day notice to the energy ministry, the plant was temporarily shut down and taken off the power grid," Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said on its website.

This is the first time Iran has reported an emergency shutdown of its sole nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.