UN watchdog says fighting poses serious risk to Russian nuclear plant By Reuters

KURCHATOV, Russia (Reuters) – The head of the U.N. nuclear agency warned on Tuesday of the risk of a serious accident at a Russian nuclear power plant due to nearby fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

Rafael Grossi, director general at the International Atomic Energy Agency, spoke after visiting the plant in Russia’s western Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces breached the border three weeks ago and Russia is fighting to free them.

“The danger or the possibility of a nuclear accident arose close to here,” Grossi told reporters.

“We see that the plant is still operating, but at the same time, the fact that the plant is operating may become even more serious in terms of possible action against it,” he said.

“When a plant is operating, the temperature is much higher, and if there was an impact or something that could affect it, there would be serious consequences.”

President Vladimir Putin last week accused Ukraine of trying to attack the Kursk plant, which has four Soviet RBMK-1000 graphite-moderated reactors – the same design as those at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, which in 1986 became the scene of the worst civilian nuclear disaster in the world. .

Ukraine has yet to respond to allegations that it attacked the facility.

“I was informed about the impact of the drones. I was shown some of their remains and signs of the impact they had,” Grossi said, without saying who was responsible.

Grossi said the RBMK-type facility lacked the containment dome and protective structure typical of most nuclear power plants today.

“This means that the reactor core containing nuclear material is only protected by a normal roof. This makes it extremely exposed and fragile, for example, to an artillery strike or a drone or a missile,” he said.

“So that’s why we think that a nuclear power plant of this type, so close to a contact point or a military front, is an extremely serious fact that we take very seriously.”

Grossi said it would be an exaggeration to equate Kursk with Chornobyl, where an accident caused an explosion that sent a radioactive cloud over parts of Eastern Europe.

“But this is the same type of reactor and there is no specific protection. And this is very, very important. If there is an impact on the core, the material is there and the consequences could be extremely serious.”

Grossi said the purpose of his visit was to draw the world’s attention to the situation and to say that: “Practically, never, ever, a nuclear power plant must or should be attacked in any way.”