Russia Evacuates 198 Staff From Bushehr Nuclear Plant; IDF Coordinates With Moscow

Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom has reportedly evacuated 198 more employees from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, as fighting linked to the Iran war edges closer to the strategic facility. According to the sources cited by cited by Israel’s Kan broadcaster, senior IDF officials are coordinating with Moscow to ensure a safe passage outside Iran for Russian nationals who worked at the site.

On Saturday, a projectile hit an area near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant on Saturday, killing one person. According to the Iranian media, this is the fourth time the site has been hit since the conflict between Isreal-US-Iran began.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a post on X on Saturday that one of the plant’s physical

protection staff had been killed by a projectile fragment. The agency added that a building at the site was affected by shockwaves and fragments, highlighting the risks posed to the facility by nearby hostilities.

Also Read | US-Israeli Strike Near Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Plant Kills One, Fourth In Two Weeks

Rosatom has been evacuating staff from the plant since the Iran war broke out at the end of February.

Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev was quoted by the agencies as saying that developments around Bushehr were unfolding in line with a “worst-case scenario”. He confirmed that the staff member killed at the site was an Iranian national.

Rosatom said the latest evacuations had been planned before the IAEA’s announcement. Likhachev also stated, according to the TASS news agency, that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been briefed on the situation surrounding the Bushehr plant.

According to Tasnim news agency, today’s strike on Bushehr plant did not damage the main parts of the plant, but it did damage an auxiliary building. The production is reported to be unaffected, the news agency claimed.

Bushehr is located in southern Iran on the Persian Gulf and is the country’s first commercial nuclear power station.