Mapping of Russia’s Kursk Nuclear Power Plant | Interactive News

IAEA chief visits one of Russia’s nuclear facilities after Moscow accused Ukraine of an attack on the Kursk nuclear power plant.

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, visits the Kursk nuclear power plant after Russia spoke of an attack on the site last week.

In a post on X on Monday, Grossi said: “Given the seriousness of the situation, I am personally leading tomorrow’s @IAEAorg mission to the Kursk nuclear power plant in Russia.”

Russia accused Ukraine on Friday of launching an attack on the Kursk nuclear power plant during the night, calling it an act of “nuclear terrorism.”

Ukraine has not responded to the allegations.

The nuclear power plant is located in the Kursk region of western Russia, where heavy fighting has been raging since Ukrainian forces invaded the area on August 6. They struck back as Russian troops advanced into eastern Ukraine.

The IAEA said in a statement that it had been informed by Russia that the remains of a drone had been found on the site of the nuclear power plant, about 100 meters from the plant’s spent fuel storage facility.

Where do fights take place?

Ukraine estimates that it has so far captured 1,263 square kilometers (488 square miles) of Russian territory.

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his troops had advanced up to three kilometers in the Kursk region and brought two more settlements under control there.

As the fighting continued, concerns grew following allegations of a drone attack on the Kursk nuclear power plant. Just weeks earlier, fighting in Sudzha had raised concerns, as it is home to the only pumping station that supplies Russian natural gas to Europe via Ukraine.

Where are Russia’s nuclear facilities located?

Russia operates at least 37 nuclear reactors in eleven nuclear power plants. The Kursk power plant, about 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, is one of the three largest nuclear facilities in the country.

Located just 40 km from the recent fighting, the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant has four Soviet-made RBMK-1000 reactors – the same design as the reactors at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the site of the world’s worst civilian nuclear disaster in 1986. The two active nuclear reactors – numbers 3 and 4 – generate 90 percent of the Kursk region’s total electricity generation capacity.

The IAEA has stated that during Grossi’s visit it will inspect the site and assess the nuclear safety and security conditions of the nuclear power plant.

“Military activities near a nuclear power plant pose a serious risk to nuclear safety. My visit to the nuclear power plant next week will give us timely access to independently assess the situation,” Grossi said on Thursday.

Construction of the Kursk-2 nuclear power plant, which will mainly use new WWER-510 reactors, is underway and began in 2018. However, the two reactors are not yet in operation.

Where are Ukraine’s nuclear facilities located?

Ukraine has 15 nuclear reactors in four nuclear power plants. Zaporizhia is responsible for almost half of all electricity generated by Ukrainian nuclear power plants and one fifth (20 percent) of annual electricity production.

Since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, there have been ongoing concerns about the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in the southern Ukrainian steppe on the Dnieper River, 550 kilometers southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, after it was captured by Russian forces in March 2022.

The IAEA said there are permanent personnel present at all of Ukraine’s nuclear sites to monitor their safety.

How dependent are Ukraine and Russia on nuclear power?

In 2023, more than half (50.7 percent) of Ukraine’s electricity was generated from nuclear power, followed by coal (20.9 percent), hydropower (12.3 percent) and gas (7.8 percent).

In 2023, 45 percent of Russia’s electricity came from gas, while only 18.4 percent of electricity came from nuclear power.

Russia is the second-largest natural gas exporter. Christoph Halser, an analyst at Oslo-based energy company Rystad Energy, told Al Jazeera that the share of Russian gas in total European imports had more than halved from 38 percent in 2021 to 15 percent in 2023.

Despite the war with Russia, Kiev continued to allow gas supplies through its Soviet-era gas pipeline.