A senior Russian official called on Tuesday for a safety zone around Iran's Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant to prevent a major disaster, Reuters reported. The appeal was made two days after a shell hit a building a few hundred meters from the plant's reactor, as reported by local officials and the International Atomic Energy Agency, BTA reported.
Alexey Likhachev, head of the state nuclear corporation "Rosatom", said that there are 72 tons of fissile material and 210 tons of spent nuclear fuel at the site and that any strike on it could lead to a catastrophe.
"If an incident occurs, it will be at least regional in scale and will affect a large number of countries in the Middle East. "None of the parties to the conflict would avoid radiation exposure in the event of a serious accident at Bushehr," Likhachev told reporters.
Iran, which has been under heavy US and Israeli air strikes since February 28, said on Tuesday that a shell had hit the area near the Bushehr plant.
The IAEA said a structure about 350 metres from the reactor was hit and destroyed, but there was no damage to the reactor itself and no personnel were injured. "Rosatom" said radiation levels around the plant remained normal.
"Rosatom" built the first 1-gigawatt unit of Iran's only nuclear power plant in Bushehr and is building additional units there.
In recent weeks, the company has evacuated some of its hundreds of employees from there.
"I believe that political leaders and legislators must now fulfill their role and do everything possible to ensure that such risks will not be repeated, that there will not be even a hint of possible direct strikes on the facility," he said.
"We call on the leaderships of all parties to the conflict to turn this area into an "island of safety" and to exclude any risk," Likhachev stressed.
"Rosatom" will conduct another evacuation from the "Bushehr" nuclear power plant as soon as the military and political situation allows, Likhachev also said, TASS reported.
"We are preparing another evacuation. This will be a large evacuation, after which literally several dozen people will remain at the plant to ensure the care of the equipment. As soon as the military and political situation allows, people will leave the plant and Iran. A route through Armenia has been developed," Likhachev said.
About 480 Russian citizens remain at the "Bushhehr" NPP.