Rosatom presses ahead with Bushehr expansion despite war risks

Alexei Likhachev, head of Russian state nuclear company Rosatom, said the company will raise the number of construction workers at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant to 200 in November, to bring staffing in line with the project schedule.

Likhachev said the workforce will reach the level needed to keep construction on schedule by early 2027. He acknowledged that any military escalation could affect the work and said Rosatom is preparing for that possibility but is currently proceeding on an “optimistic scenario”.

Rosatom evacuated hundreds of staff from Bushehr, Iran's only operating nuclear power plant, after the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran in February. The company is building two new nuclear units at the site.

Bushehr, on Iran's southern Gulf coast, was built by Russia and began operating in the 2010s, and is the cornerstone of civil nuclear cooperation between Moscow and Tehran.