Rosatom Warns of Regional Disaster
at Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Plant
Caspian News
(April 3, 2026) — The head of Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, has said that a US-Israeli strike on the Bushehr nuclear power plant would cause a regional-scale disaster.
“We must understand that the reactor is operating at full capacity. It contains 72 tons of fuel and another 210 tons of spent fuel. This is a huge mass of fissile material. In the event of a strike, it would certainly be a regional-scale disaster. This is something all parties to the conflict must understand, regardless of their political affiliation,” Likhachev told reporters on March 3, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
He also noted that contact with Iran’s nuclear industry leadership has been completely lost, saying that “they are not answering their phones or responding to emails. We know for sure that there were strikes on both Fordow and Natanz [Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities], and that there was a strike on a large nuclear complex in Tehran, where the Tehran research reactor is located”.
The Rosatom chief also referred to over 600 Russian employees remaining at the Bushehr nuclear plant, saying that “as soon as the military situation allows, as soon as there is a pause between strikes, we will evacuate approximately 150-200 people”.
Earlier, the Russian state nuclear corporation evacuated 94 family members of its staff from the country following orders by the Russian embassy for its citizens to leave the Islamic Republic via Azerbaijan and Armenia, as air routes are closed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been informed that “political support will be needed” when the evacuation of Russian personnel from the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant begins. Rosatom leadership asked President Putin “to reiterate his position in his contacts with the leadership of Israel, the US, the countries of the Arab world and the Persian Gulf on the unacceptability of risk, not to mention direct strikes on a nuclear facility.”
Likhachev said that work at the Bushehr nuclear plant construction site has been completely suspended, and added that “we are very strictly monitoring our workers to ensure they do not leave the settlements – there are two settlements there, an old one and a new one – and to minimize their presence at open construction sites.”
He also described the construction of new units at the Bushehr NPP as a priority for Rosatom, and said that “we understand our responsibility to the civilian population and the Iranian government for the implementation of the Bushehr project”.
Russia built and continues to service the Bushehr plant, Iran’s only operational civilian nuclear power station, under a bilateral agreement. Rosatom helped Iran build Bushehr, which was connected to the national grid in 2011 with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts. Moscow and Tehran agreed to build two additional reactors at Bushehr, and construction started in 2017.
The United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, targeting its leadership, military facilities and command centers. On the same day, Iranian state media reported that the city where the Bushehr nuclear plant is located came under U.S.-Israeli missile attacks. Any damage to the facility would carry significant radiological risks, especially given its location on the Persian Gulf coast.
