Prior to his visit to Russia’s Kursk NPP (KNPP), which has been under attack from the Ukrainian forces that invaded the area earlier in August, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi stressed the importance of the IAEA’s role. “When the international community needs an independent assessment of the safety and security of a nuclear facility, we will be there,” he said. “The only way in which the IAEA can validate the information is when we have an opportunity to independently assess what is happening.”
Noting that it was an evolving situation, he said it was vital “that I see first-hand the situation and discuss modalities for further activities as may be needed to evaluate the nuclear safety and security conditions of the KNPP.”
During his trip, Grossi visited the operating NPP and the Kursk-II under construction, as well as social facilities in the operators’ town of Kurchatov. He asked Nikolai Spassky, Deputy Director General for International Affairs of Rosatom State Corporation, to convey his gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the opportunity to visit the plant in the current “emergency conditions”. During the visit a missile danger siren sounded in the city.
KNPP is one of the three biggest NPPs in Russia and one of the four biggest electricity producers in the country. It is located on the bank of the Seym River about 40 kilometres west of the city of Kursk. The nearby city of Kurchatov was founded when construction of the plant began. The plant feeds the grid for Kursk Oblast and 19 other regions. Currently the site hosts two active RBMK reactors (Kursk 3&4) and two decommissioned older RBMK units (Kursk 1&2). It also houses the partially built Kursk 5 and Kursk 6 units which were never completed. Two new VVER-TOI reactor units (Kursk-II 1&2) are under construction. Unlike VVER reactors, the older RBMKs do not have a protective containment or a melt trap, although they have all been significantly upgraded since the 1986 Chernobyl accident.
“My visit is connected with the fact that in the relative proximity to the city of Kursk, in the Kursk region, near the nuclear power plant, fighting is underway, and there is now a danger of a nuclear incident here,” Grossi told a press conference after touring the plant. He recalled that the IAEA is engaged in maintaining the safety regime of nuclear facilities and “that is why” he accepted President Putin’s invitation to personally assess the situation at the NPP together with his colleagues and “find some solutions to the current situation”.
He added: “Based on what I was able to see, the plant is operating in a very close to normal mode,” noting that he was at the main NPP facilities – in the reactor, engine rooms, control room and used nuclear fuel storage. However, he stressed that it is the fact that the station is currently in operation that makes the situation “more serious”, and if there is an external impact, “the consequences will be serious”.
He stressed that Kursk NPP was special. “These are RBMK-type reactors, which by their design do not have a protective shell, or containment, which other reactors have – structures that can withstand, for example, an airplane strike…This means that the core and radioactive material are separated from the environment by an ordinary building or roof. This makes it very vulnerable….That is why I am personally here.”
However, “Comparing and equating the Kursk and Chernobyl NPPs is, in my opinion, an exaggeration. But we are talking about the same type of reactors without special protection, and this is very important. If there is any external impact on the active part when there is fuel, the consequences will be extremely serious. I’m not saying that there will be a second Chernobyl, I’m saying that the consequences will be very serious.”
He added: “It is clear that all this does not negate the fact that the activity that is happening here nearby, fighting, drones, their wreckage. When I was at the station, I saw traces of these attacks. This raises concerns for the security regime.” Grossi said he had “very clear conclusions” based on the results of what he was shown – the consequences of an attack on a working station.
The IAEA can offer “a number of technical measures” for Russia to maintain nuclear safety, he noted. “We have already established cooperation and interaction processes with the security services, Rosatom State Corporation, representatives of the Russian Armed Forces, security services and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he said.
The head of Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev, who accompanied Grossi during the visit, confirmed that the station, which “was built in the 1960s and was launched in the 1970s has no powerful defences”. He explained that a not very powerful explosive device could cause irreparable damage”. However, Likhachev was not entirely satisfied with Grossi’s visit. “The results of specific attacks were presented, and there can be no ambiguity about who launched these strikes, where it came from, in this case,” he told Rossiya 24 TV channel. “Yes, sometimes the IAEA doesn’t say what we want to hear. It lives by its own rules, by its own norms, but we will work patiently and continue to put forward our position.”
At the same time, he clarified that in addition to its public activities, the IAEA also undertakes “big diplomatic work” behind the scenes. In the coming days, Grossi will go to Kiev, where he is scheduled to hold talks with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on the situation around the Kursk NPP. The Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to International Organisations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, told Kommersant, that Moscow hopes Grossi “will convey to President Zelensky a signal about the inadmissibility of strikes on nuclear facilities”. The following week Grossi is expected to visit Russia again – in the Kaliningrad region – for further talks with Likhachev.
The day after Grossi’s visit, Russian National Guard (Rosgvardiya) troops destroyed an unexploded HIMARS cluster munition found near KNPP. “Upon arrival … the Rosgvardiya officers discovered a missile fragment filled with 180 unexploded cluster bomb elements,” Rosgvardiya said in a statement adding that the munition was found five kilometres from the NPP. HIMARS is a US-developed light multiple rocket launcher. Nuclear utility Rosenergoatom told RIA Novosti that KNPP was operating normally following discovery of the munition. The RIA Novosti website shows a video of Rosgvardiya engineers neutralizing the HIMARS.
Meanwhile, the Kursk government reported that from 29 August, additional security measures would be in place at KNPP and in the Kurchatov district. Acting Governor Alexey Smirnov said on his Telegram channel that Ukrainian forces were still threatening KNPP.
Due to the attempts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (APU) to enter the satellite city of Kurchatov and “in order to ensure additional security measures”, the operational headquarters of the counter-terrorist operation decided to restrict entry to Kurchatov for security reasons and specially organised roadblocks will implement the decision.
Smirnov clarified that residents registered in the city can freely enter Kurchatov. Those who work there, but do not have a residence permit, can get a pass from the administrations of Kurchatov and Kurchatov district. Their employees, who will be on duty at checkpoints from 7: 00 to 17: 00, can also issue entry permits. In addition, a pass can be issued in Kursk.
All employees of the KNPP and employees of the Kursk-II construction site “should contact the management of their company about the access regime”. Cars transiting the area that previously travelled through Kurchatov will have to use alternative detour routes.
