Russia evacuates nearly all personnel from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant

The chief of Russia’s state nuclear corporation says it is pulling nearly all of its personnel from Iran’s Russia-built nuclear power plant.

Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev says 108 workers are leaving the power plant in Bushehr, and only 20 will stay behind to keep watch on the equipment at the plant, where Russia is building two more nuclear reactors.

Likhachev says that Russia has coordinated the workers’ evacuation with the Iranian authorities.

Since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran, Russia has repeatedly voiced concern about projectiles hitting the territory of the plant, some of them landing near its nuclear reactor.

Russia had planned the near-complete evacuation long before the ceasefire, removing about 600 personnel in several waves in March and earlier this month.