Rosatom halts return of employees to Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant

Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom says it has suspended the return of its first employees to the construction site of new units at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant following new strikes on Iran.

An Iranian official told state media yesterday that a US projectile had struck the perimeter area of the facility, hitting a military site on the outskirts of Bushehr.

“A few hours ago, the first group of people – six individuals – began their journey to the site, but following the attacks that took place last night, we have halted our team’s progress in Tehran,” the Russian state corporation’s chief, Alexei Likhachev, is quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.

“We will decide on the next steps in the near future,” he says.

Rosatom, which is building two new units at Bushehr, evacuated more than 600 staff to Russia after the launch of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28. Some of them started returning, arriving in Tehran, where their further journey to the plant was put on hold.

The Russian state nuclear corporation has left only 20 personnel there to maintain construction activities and has said that the expansion of the plant remains one of its priorities.