A drone hit the cooling tower of a reactor unit at Russia’s Kursk nuclear power plant Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said, adding that no fire broke out and the unit continued operating as before.
The IAEA said it had been informed that the reactor unit was operating when the cooling tower was hit. The agency did not report any change in the unit’s operating mode following the incident.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said attacks on nuclear facilities were unacceptable and called for maximum military restraint around nuclear sites to prevent the risk of a nuclear accident.
A cooling tower is part of a nuclear power plant’s heat-removal system and is separate from the reactor itself. In this case, the IAEA said the affected unit continued operating normally after the drone hit.
The IAEA has repeatedly warned that military activity near nuclear facilities can pose risks to nuclear safety and security.
