Alexei Likhachev, head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, on Thursday urged the United States and Israel to avoid striking Iran’s Russia-built nuclear power plant in Bushehr, warning of serious
consequences.
“Not a single party to the conflict will escape the impact of radiation if there is a serious accident,” he said.
He added that a strike earlier this week hit the plant’s territory near a metrology services building close to the operating reactor but caused no injuries or damage.
Rosatom has evacuated some personnel from Bushehr and is planning to pull out most of the remaining 480 staff, leaving only a small team to operate the facility, Likhachev said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Moscow strongly condemned what it called a “missile strike” on the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, which the UN’s nuclear watchdog said was hit by a projectile.
“We strongly condemn the irresponsible, completely unacceptable missile strike launched against the inner perimeter of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, just metres from an operating reactor,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a weekly briefing.
She added that Russia had warned the United States and Israel against “threatening the lives” of Russian citizens still working at the plant, which Moscow helped build.
Likhachev said there were 72 tonnes of fissile material and 210 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel at the site, adding that any strike could lead to a catastrophe.
“If an incident were to occur, it would be at least regional in scale and would affect a large number of countries in the Middle East,” he told reporters.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said a structure about 350 metres from the reactor was hit and destroyed, but there was no damage to the reactor and no injuries to staff. Rosatom said radiation levels around the plant remained normal.
Rosatom built the first 1-gigawatt unit of Iran’s only nuclear power plant at Bushehr and is constructing additional units there.
“I believe political leaders and lawmakers must now play their role and do everything possible to ensure there is no recurrence of such risks, not even a hint of possible direct strikes on the site of an operating power unit,” he said.
“We appeal to the leadership of all parties to the conflict to make this area an island of safety and to rule out any risk.”
Likhachev added that the US and Israel had precise information on the geographical coordinates of the Bushehr plant and the new units under construction there.
