The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant was not physically damaged in the latest round of military strikes by the US and Israel, but warned that the attacks are bringing the world dangerously close to a nuclear disaster.
In a statement posted on X on Monday, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said satellite imagery taken on April 5 showed the plant itself remained intact. However, the agency's analysis revealed strikes had landed perilously close to the facility, including one just 75 metres from the site perimeter. The IAEA said it had confirmed the impacts based on "independent analysis of new satellite imagery and detailed knowledge of the site".
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IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi also issued a warning, saying that "continued military activity near the BNPP, an operating plant with large amounts of nuclear fuel, could cause a severe radiological accident with harmful consequences for people and the environment in Iran and beyond."
He added that "regardless of the nature of the intended targets, such attacks pose a very real danger to nuclear safety and must stop".
Grossi called on all parties to respect what the IAEA calls its seven indispensable pillars for nuclear safety during conflict, stressing that "a nuclear facility and surrounding areas should never be struck".
The Bushehr plant is Iran's only functioning nuclear power facility, located in the port city of Bushehr on the Persian Gulf coast. The conflict began on February 28, when the US and Israel launched initial strikes on Iran, sparking the war. Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the facility had been bombed four times since hostilities began, criticising what he called a "lack of concern" for nuclear safety.
The previous strike on Bushehr took place on March 18, when a structure about 350 metres from the reactor was hit and destroyed. In the most recent attack on Saturday, one person was killed by projectile fragments and a building on the site was affected by shockwaves. No increase in radiation levels was reported.
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Russia's nuclear agency Rosatom, which operates the plant and has hundreds of personnel stationed there, began evacuating staff following the strikes. The Week Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev said the likelihood of a nuclear incident was "unfortunately, only increasing".
Experts warn that a direct hit on the plant or its electricity supply lines, which power the reactor's cooling system, could trigger a meltdown and force evacuations across several hundred kilometres, potentially extending to neighbouring Gulf countries.
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