Rosatom says 508 more Russian nuclear experts to be sent to Iran's Bushehr plant

The director of the Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation, Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev, said on Wednesday that Russian employees will not be evacuated from the Bushehr nuclear power plant and that the corporation plans to increase staffing at the site, according to Mehr News Agency (MNA).

Likhachev said Rosatom wants to raise the number of personnel at the Bushehr plant to 700 people. Under the arrangement described, more than 500 people are to be added to the 192 Russian experts currently working in the construction and service sectors at the facility, a figure that corresponds to the 508 additional experts cited in the report.

The statement follows a visit by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to Moscow, where he arrived on Tuesday night to attend the summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum and also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. After an earlier meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the CIS summit, the head of Rosatom had said the corporation was considering several new sites in Iran for the construction of large and small nuclear power plants.

According to the report, an agreement has now been signed covering the site for several new power units. The expansion of staffing at Bushehr is presented as part of the broader nuclear cooperation between Iran and Russia.

The report by Mehr News Agency added that Likhachev's remarks were made on Wednesday and that the planned increase covers Russian personnel working in both the construction and service sectors at the Bushehr plant.