KURCHATOV, Russia (Reuters) – Rafael Grossi, head of the United Nations nuclear agency, said on Tuesday after a visit to Russia's Kursk nuclear power plant that there was a risk of a nuclear accident and that the situation was serious.
“The danger or possibility of a nuclear accident has arisen here in the vicinity,” Grossi told reporters, referring to fighting in the surrounding Kursk region.
Russia says the plant has been repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian forces just 40 km (25 miles) away after they cordoned off a swath of Russian territory this month. Ukraine has not yet responded to the allegations.
Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told a news conference that the nuclear plant was extremely vulnerable because it had no protective dome.
He said the site is currently still operating under almost normal conditions, but that this means the security situation is even more serious.
Russian state-owned Rosenergoatom said Grossi had been able to convince himself that the plant's third reactor was operating at planned capacity, while the fourth reactor had been undergoing scheduled maintenance since Sunday. He was also shown a new reactor block under construction, it said.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou and Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
