Russia’s Kursk NPP, which was reported to be the main target of Ukraine’s recent invasion of the Kursk region, is operating normally, and all security measures are being taken, the Acting Governor of the Kursk Region Alexei Smirnov reported on his Telegram channel.

In the NPP operators’ town of Kurchatov, he met with Sergey Kiriyenko, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Russia. “The focus is on Kursk NPP. The situation at the facility is stable, all processes are going on as usual. The Ministry of Defence and the Federal Guard are taking all measures to ensure the safety of the station,” he wrote.

Russian media reported that the Kursk NPP itself has now been massively fortified and is better protected from drone and artillery attacks.

Kursk NPP is located four kilometres from the operators’ city of Kurchatov and 40 kilometres from Kursk city. The number of employees of the station is estimated at more than 5,000. The NPP comprises four ageing RBMK-1000 units, two of which are now closed down for decommissioning. In addition, two new VVER-TOI reactor units (Kursk-II) are under construction at the site, the first of which is nearing completion.

Work appears to have resumed at the construction site which was earlier reported to have been closed down. “We visited the construction site of the Kursk-II NPP. The project is being implemented on schedule. The launch of the reactor under construction is planned for December. This will be an important stage in the development of the nuclear industry, “Smirnov said.

In addition, Russia’s TD Group (Technical Decision) reported that it had completed the next stage of support for the supply of LBA (Linear Bifurcation Analysis) system pipelines for Kursk-II unit 1 under a contract with Interenergo.

TD Group CEO Artyom Mushkaterov thanked the Interenergo team of specialists for their reliability, involvement and openness during the cooperation.

Meanwhile, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said he had continued discussions on the recent events in the territory of the Russian Federation, including the proximity of military action to the Kursk NPP and had expressed his readiness to assess the situation, including by making a visit to the plant.

This came following a telephone call from Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachev to Grossi in which he reported a drone attack on the operators’ town of resulting in an explosion in the area of an open switchgear. “By a lucky chance, no one was hurt. Every day, an air alert signal is triggered 10-12 times in the city. In the past day, there have been 21 such alerts,” Rosatom said.

Likhachev told Grossi that the number of reports about preparations for a provocation by the Ukrainian armed forces against the Kursk and Zaporizhia NPPs has increased many times and he invited Grossi to visit the Kursk plant in the near future.