Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, visited the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Kurchatov, Russia, today and told reporters afterwards that military action taking place in the vicinity of the plant poses a risk of a “nuclear incident,” reported RT. Grossi reiterated that the Kursk nuclear power plant has an older design that does not include some of the protections a more modern nuclear facility would have. For instance, it does not have domes to shield its four reactors in case of a major incident, such as a plane crashing into it.
However, Grossi clarified that his comparison of the Kursk plant to Chernobyl should not be interpreted as meaning an incident at the Kursk facility would be of the same scale as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
The agency is determined to mitigate the actual risks, Grossi said. “This conflict, this war is not the responsibility of the IAEA. What is the responsibility of the IAEA—and we are going to assume that responsibility—is to make sure that no nuclear accident takes place,” he said, adding that his message would be the same everywhere. “In the end it may sound very common-sense and simple: Don’t attack a nuclear power plant.”
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, called Grossi’s statement a signal for Ukraine.
“At the press conference during his visit to the Kursk nuclear power plant, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said that one must not attack nuclear power plants. It is a clear signal, intended, first and foremost, for Ukraine,” he wrote in an X posting.
