Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom continues to evacuate its employees from Iran amid US-Israeli attacks on the country, but about 450 people are still at the Bushehr nuclear power plant, the company's chief, Alexei Likhachev, said today, as quoted by Reuters.
Likhachev said 150 employees left Bushehr last night, crossed the border into neighboring Armenia and continued on to Russia.
The Bushehr nuclear power plant was built by Russia and is Iran's only operating nuclear power plant, Reuters reports. Rosatom is building two more reactors at the plant, but Likhachev said last week that work on them has been suspended. On Monday, he said the situation around Bushehr remained tense, but there had been no strikes on either the plant or the construction site.
The nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran, is facing a threat amid the escalating conflict in the region, the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, was quoted as saying by the state news agency RIA.
"There is definitely a threat to the plant," Likhachev said, adding that "explosions can be heard for kilometers away," but the plant itself was not a direct target of the attacks.
Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that thousands of Russians work at Iran's only nuclear power plant. It was built by Moscow for the country's needs. Russia is currently building other nuclear facilities near Bushehr.
The US did not attack the Bushehr nuclear power plant during the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites last June.