Russia has begun the final stage of evacuating personnel from the Bushehr nuclear power plant, leaving only a minimal force.
At 8 am on April 13 Moscow time, Russia deployed the final personnel rotation at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran.
It is expected that 108 employees will leave, while 20 people will continue to stay to work - Rosatom General Director Alexey Likhachev informed the press.
“108 people are on their way to Isfahan, everything is going according to plan. 20 people are still staying at the factory, including heads of branches, deputy heads, security forces and technical teams responsible for ensuring equipment safety,” he added.
Iran's only nuclear power plant is located in the coastal town of Bushehr on the Persian Gulf. Although a ceasefire was established on April 7 to temporarily suspend airstrikes against Iran, the plant was still shaken by missile attacks nearby up to 4 times throughout the conflict, including a one-person death and damage to an auxiliary structure.
Experts expressed concern about the possibility of fighting breaking out again. Damage to the Bushehr nuclear power plant could leak persistent radioactive cesium-137 from used fuel tanks into the Persian Gulf, threatening the aquatic resources and drinking water of millions of people. A direct attack could even cause the reactor core to melt.
According to Ali Alkis - nuclear security expert and research student at Hacettepe University, Turkey, this scenario is unlikely to lead to a Chernobyl-style disaster, but may cause a slow-progressing environmental disaster.
The Bushehr plant went into operation in 2011, owning a VVER V-446 reactor designed by Russia with a real capacity of about 915 megawatts of electricity, accounting for about 2% of Iran's total electricity output.
The reactor at Bushehr is enclosed in a reinforced concrete and steel reinforcement shell, and there are many backup cooling systems to prevent the reactor core from overheating. If overheating occurs, nuclear fuel can melt, creating conditions for radioactive material to penetrate the container system.
According to Scott Roecker, Vice President of Nuclear Material Security at the non-profit Nuclear Threat Initiative, used fuel is also stored in cooling tanks right in the nuclear reactor area. If these tanks are broken, they can also overheat and cause a chain of melting incidents, leading to the release of radioactive material into the air or the Persian Gulf.
Used fuel tanks in Bushehr have long been a concern. A 2021 study showed that if a fire occurs here, radioactive dust could spread along the surrounding coast, including the city of Ahvaz with about 1.3 million people.
Another risk is water pollution. Because many Gulf countries depend on seawater desalination technology to supply drinking water, any radiation contamination in the Persian Gulf can cause an immediate water crisis.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani once said in an interview last year that Qatar could run out of water in just 3 days if a nuclear incident contaminates the Gulf region.
