The missile hit the nuclear power plant. Nuclear threat in the Middle East

The head of the Russian company Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, said on Wednesday that the situation at the Iranian nuclear power plant in Bushehr is developing according to the worst-case scenario. On Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said that Tehran had informed it about a missile strike at the gym.

Likhachev said the impact occurred around 9.30 p.m. local time (7 p.m. in Poland) near an active power unit. No one was hurt in this incident.

Likhachev also said that Rosatom had started the third phase of personnel evacuation, in which one group set off by land towards the Iran-Armenian border on Wednesday morning. Two more are scheduled to leave the power plant soon.

Until the situation in Iran stabilizes, Rosatom will temporarily reduce the number of plant employees to a minimum.

Rosatom, which built the first unit of Iran's only nuclear power plant in Bushehr, evacuated some of its staff and suspended construction work on new blocks after the current war in the Middle East began. On March 12, Likhachev reported that about 450 Rosatom employees remained on site and that 150 staff members had previously returned to Russia via Armenia.

Last fall, Iran announced it had signed a $25 billion deal with Rosatom to build four 5-gigawatt nuclear units elsewhere in the country's southeast. The parties also signed a memorandum on the development of small nuclear power plants in Iran.

Airstrikes by Israeli and US forces on Iran have been ongoing since February 28. Tehran responds by attacking Israel and several Persian Gulf countries, hitting both American bases and civilian facilities located there. (PAP)

ek/mal/