Russia to evacuate employees at Iranian nuclear plant targeted by U.S.-Israeli forces, reports say

Russia will evacuate nearly all of its employees from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, which has reportedly been hit several times since the start of the U.S.-Israeli air campaign against Iran.

Engineers and technicians with Russia-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom manage the reactor’s core operations and maintenance at the Bushehr plant, about 750 miles south of Tehran.

“We are preparing the final wave of evacuations this week. More than 200 people are scheduled to leave the station and go to Armenia,” Rosatom chief Alexey Likhachev said Wednesday, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.

The state atomic energy corporation had already evacuated more than 400 employees, with about 300 expected to leave in the next round, officials said.

“We won’t be leaving the station completely, but only volunteers will remain — in particular, the guys from our security unit,” Mr. Likhachev said.

He said about 50 people would be sufficient to ensure daily reactor maintenance at Bushehr.

“It is impossible to ignore a nuclear facility — that’s the kind of work it is,” Mr. Likhachev said.

The Bushehr plant was built with Rosatom’s assistance and connected to Iran’s national grid in 2011. It remains the country’s only operational nuclear power facility, with a gross capacity of 1,000 megawatts.