MOSCOW, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The head of Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom warned on Tuesday of a growing threat to the Bushehr nuclear power plant (NPP) in Iran as military hostilities in the region intensify.
Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachev said explosions have been heard just kilometers away from the plant's physical protection perimeter since nearby military facilities were bombed by Israel and the United States.
The Bushehr plant is a nuclear facility, and any breach of the integrity of its reactor or fuel storage facilities could lead to radioactive contamination across vast territories, with the movement of radioactive particles depending unpredictably on atmospheric conditions, putting the entire region at risk, said Likhachev.
"All parties to the conflict must proceed from the unconditional priority of ensuring the safety of a nuclear facility, regardless of their political positions," he said, adding that 639 Russians still remain at the Bushehr plant.
Russia has been involved in the Bushehr plant, on Iran's southern coast, since signing a construction contract in 1995. The plant began feeding electricity into the national grid in September 2011. In 2014, Iran and Russia agreed to build two more reactors at Bushehr, with an option for six additional units at other sites. Construction began in March 2017. Most recently, in September 2025, the two countries signed a 25-billion-U.S.-dollar deal to build nuclear plants in southeastern Iran.
On Saturday morning, joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Tehran and other Iranian cities killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with some of the leader's family members, senior military commanders and civilians. Iran responded with missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and U.S. bases across the Middle East. ■
