UN nuclear chief to visit Russian atomic plant near front line

Kurchatov, Russia: UN nuclear agency chief Rafael Grossi arrived on Tuesday at the Kursk nuclear power plant which Moscow says has been repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian forces that are just 40 km (25 miles) away after carving out a slice of Russian territory.

The safety of nuclear power plants has repeatedly been endangered over the course of the Ukraine war, which began in February 2022 when Russia sent thousands of troops over the border into Ukraine.

Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly blamed each other for drone and artillery attacks on the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, though the August 6 incursion by Ukrainian forces into Russia has put the spotlight on the Kursk plant - a major Soviet-era station.

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

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

Grossi, who has repeatedly warned of a nuclear disaster if nuclear plants continue to be attacked, was shown on Russian state television speaking to Russian nuclear officials at the plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief said before his trip that the only way to assess the plant's security and validate the information it was receiving was to visit the site, which is owned by Russia's state nuclear corporation, Rosatom.

"The safety and security of nuclear facilities must, under no circumstances, be endangered," Grossi said. "The safety and security of all nuclear power plants is of central and fundamental concern to the IAEA."

Foreign attack

Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers punched through the Russian border on Aug. 6 and then carved out a portion of Russia's western Kursk region, the biggest foreign attack on sovereign Russian territory since World War Two.

Russia says Ukraine sent in thousands of troops along with sabotage units, swarms of drones, heavy artillery, dozens of tanks and heavy Western weaponry. Moscow says it will eject the Ukrainian soldiers.

Just 40 km (25 miles) away from the fighting, the Kursk nuclear power station sits next to the town of Kurchatov, named after legendary Russian physicist Igor Kurchatov.

Of Kursk's four Soviet-era reactors, two are shut down, but two - Number 3 and Number 4 - are operational. Reactor Number 4 was disconnected from the grid on Aug. 25 for 59 days of cooling system repairs.

Construction of the Kursk-2 power plant, using essentially new reactors of the VVER-510 type, began in 2018. The two reactors are not operational yet.

The IAEA said on Aug. 22 that it had been informed by Russia that the remains of a drone were found about 100 metres (330 feet) from the Kursk plant's spent fuel nuclear storage facility.

Radiation levels in the area were normal, according to Russian monitoring stations.