Russia warns that attack on Iran's Bushehr plant could lead to 'Chernobyl-like catastrophe'

“I would like to urge the Israeli authorities to refrain from not only a direct attack, but even any hint of it,” Alexei Likhachev told reporters on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

A top official at Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear agency, said an attack on the Bushehr plant, especially its first generating unit, which is still active, would cause a “catastrophe comparable to Chernobyl,” the Ukrainian nuclear plant whose reactor exploded on April 26, 1986.

The Bushehr plant is being built with support from Rosatom and Alexei Likhachev said he hoped Israeli authorities “understand the situation and have enough common sense to avoid even a random incident.”

“Based on what we know about the structure of the uranium enrichment plants that were attacked, including those at Natanz, the impacts did not physically damage the underground workshops,” Likhachev said.

At Natanz, more than 10,000 centrifuges are used to enrich uranium to 60%, far beyond the 3.67% limit set by the 2015 international agreement that led to the easing of sanctions against Tehran in exchange for guarantees about the peaceful nature of the nuclear program.

Enriched to between 3% and 5%, this uranium is used to fuel nuclear power plants for the production of electricity. To make a bomb, the enrichment must be brought to 90%.

The Rosatom director warned that “the fact that the Iranians have hidden the enrichment plants underground does not completely remove them from the risk zone”, so “there are still risks of nuclear incidents”.

Lykhachev indicated that Russia considers it possible to keep the approximately 600 specialists it has allocated in Bushehr, 250 of whom are permanently based, according to figures released today by Russian President Vladimir Putin himself, in a meeting with representatives of the main international news agencies, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

On June 13, Israel launched an attack on Iran, claiming to have information that Tehran was approaching the “point of no return” to obtain an atomic bomb, bombing Iranian military and nuclear facilities and killing senior military leaders, scientists and civilians.

Iran, which denies having built nuclear weapons and claims the right to enrich uranium to develop a civilian nuclear program, responded by launching missiles and drones against several Israeli cities.

Tel Aviv authorities have admitted that the attacks caused at least 24 deaths. However, official death tolls have not been updated for several days in either country, and no military targets have been reported.