Russia's Rosatom Loses Contact with Iran's Nuclear Chiefs
Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev confirmed Tuesday that operations at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in southern Iran have been suspended following airstrikes in the facility's immediate vicinity, with 639 Russian personnel currently still on-site. Rosatom serves as the plant's primary contractor and is mid-construction on its second and third power units.
While coordination with Iranian officials at the plant itself continues, Likhachev disclosed that contact with the broader leadership of Iran's nuclear establishment has been severed, leaving the status of other nuclear installations across the country unknown.
"The station is certainly under threat, as explosions are already being heard kilometers away from the station's physical perimeter. They aren't aimed at the station but at the military installations located there, but the threat is clearly growing," Likhachev stated.
Despite the deteriorating security environment, Rosatom's chief insisted the situation at the plant remains "under control." The company had already evacuated nearly 100 people from Iran by Saturday — including non-essential staff and employees' children. Likhachev added that an additional 150 to 200 personnel are slated for evacuation "when the situation allows."
The stakes could not be higher. The Bushehr facility currently houses a massive stockpile of fissile material — including 70 tons of nuclear fuel and more than 210 tons of depleted fuel, according to Likhachev. A direct strike on that stockpile, he warned, would trigger a catastrophic incident of at minimum "regional" proportions.
Russia's deep involvement in Iran's civilian nuclear program stretches back decades. Construction of the Bushehr plant originally began in the mid-1970s under a West German contractor, but was halted following the Islamic Revolution in 1980. Rosatom revived the project in the 1990s and successfully brought the plant's first power unit online in the early 2010s — cementing Moscow's role as the backbone of Iran's atomic infrastructure.
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