Russia Evacuates More Experts From Iran’s Bushehr Following Attacks And Warning From Radiation

File image. (Mehr News Agency)

Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom on March 25 evacuated another 163 workers from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, reducing its workforce at the facility to approximately 300, as the head of the company warned that conditions at the site are deteriorating along what he described as a worst-case scenario.

Bushehr is the Islamic Republic’s only operating nuclear reactor. It was built by Rosatom, which provides direct support to its operations.

Rosatom chief Alexey Likhachev said that more staff would be leaving, with one group already departing by road toward the Iranian-Armenian border and two additional groups preparing to follow.

The corporation is temporarily cutting its on-site presence to the bare minimum required to keep the plant’s critical systems running.

The evacuation, the third wave since the start of the Israeli-American war on Iran, comes one day after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that a projectile struck the Bushehr plant’s premises.

The attack was the second near the nuclear facility in recent days. A similar attack took place on March 17, without causing any casualties or damage.

On the first day of the war, February 28, Rosatom evacuated 94 people, including all employees’ children, non-essential staff, and anyone who wished to leave the country. The second wave was completed overnight between March 10 and 11, when 150 specialists crossed the border into Armenia and began their journey home.

With the latest departure of 163 workers, the total number of Rosatom personnel remaining in the facility is reported to be around 300.

Likhachev previously warned that even strikes near the nuclear power plant cannot be allowed because “there is too large a volume of fissile materials both in the reactor, in the cooling pools, and in the storage facilities.”

“This would, I repeat, be a regional-scale catastrophe from which no one would emerge unscathed,” he pointed out. “Regardless of political sympathy or antipathy, regardless of whose side anyone is on. The entire region would suffer severely,” he said.

Following the latest attack on Bushehr, Kuwaiti authorities warned residents about possible radiation exposure, although the IAEA didn’t report any increase in radiation level.

In a video message shared by the National Guard, authorities outlined basic precautions in case of an emergency, adding that the closest nuclear reactor is more than 240 kilometers away, which would greatly limit the impact of any potential leak.

Residents were advised to stay indoors, avoid going outside, and keep doors and windows tightly shut to reduce exposure to radiations.

The attacks near Bushehr were likely carried out by the U.S. or Israel in order to push Rosatom to evacuate its workers, which could eventually force a shut down of the reactor, or even open the way for a direct attack on the facility. Taking into account the fact that all of Iran’s other nuclear facilities have been targeted, the latter possibility is the more likely.

An attack on Bushehr threatens a catastrophic, region-wide radiological disaster, potentially causing a reactor core meltdown, widespread leakage into the Persian Gulf, and necessitating massive evacuations. Still, neither the U.S. nor Israel has yet committed to not targeting the facility.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence

NOW hosted at southfront.press

Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.

The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation

Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com

SOUTHFRONT.PRESS

MORE ON THIS TOPIC: