The press service of Russia’s Kursk NPP reported on its Telegram channel that on 24 August Russian air defences shot down a Ukrainian drone near the Kursk NPP. The falling drone crashed and detonated, setting fire to an on-site transformer. The station reported that the local fire was extinguished by the Emergency Services, and there were no injuries. The press service clarified that the radiation background at the Kursk NPP industrial site and the surrounding area did not change and remained within natural limits. However, unit 3, the only operating unit at the time, was reduced to half capacity. This information was subsequently confirmed by Kursk NPP Director Alexander Uvakin.
Kursk NPP hosts four RBMK-1000 reactors. Unit 1 was shut in 2021 after 45 years of operation, and unit 2 in 2024. Units 3&4 are currently due to retire by 2033 and 2035. They are being replaced by four VVER-TOI reactors at the nearby Kursk II site. Although the on-site transformer is not directly involved in the process of generating energy, it supplies power for fire-extinguishing systems, communication, and lighting, for example, in the control room.
Russian nuclear utility Rosenergoatom (part of Rosatom) also confirmed the details of the event and clarified that unit 3 was the only operating unit with unit 4 undergoing a scheduled maintenance outage. Unit 3 had been reconnected to the grid in June following scheduled repairs and upgrading work.
Kursk region acting governor Alexander Khinshtein said on his Telegram channel: “Attacks on nuclear power plants are not just war crimes. They are a threat to nuclear security and a violation of international conventions.” He added: “The staff of the nuclear power plant have continued to work in difficult conditions. The attempt to disrupt the construction of the new Kursk-II NPP and cause harm is a cowardly act … and those responsible for these crimes will be held accountable.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the attack by the Ukrainian military on the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant could lead to a large-scale man-made disaster in Europe. The ageing RBMK reactors at Kursk are especially vulnerable as they do not have the strong containment protection of the newer VVER reactors.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a post on X that is “is aware of media reports that a transformer at the Kursk NPP in Russia has caught fire due to military activity”. While the IAEA has no independent confirmation of these reports, Director General Rafael Grossi stresses that “every nuclear facility must be protected at all times”. A subsequent post said: “IAEA monitoring confirms normal radiation levels near Kursk NPP; Russia says reactor unit’s power reduced due to auxiliary transformer damage but fire extinguished and no injuries.”
This prompted a comment from Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organisations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, who said on X L “As always, the IAEA is very inarticulate in reporting on Ukrainian attacks on nuclear infrastructure facilities.”
Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection, is now monitoring the radiation situation in Kursk and says no violations of hygienic standards have been detected. “Measurements are conducted by the laboratory of the Federal Budgetary Institution, Centre for Hygiene & Epidemiology in the Kursk Region once every two hours at control points in settlements that are as close as possible to the borders of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (30-kilometer zone).”
Earlier in August, a similar incident occurred at Russia’s Smolensk NPP, which also has RBMK reactors. The drone was brought down by electronic means near unit 3 of the plant where it detonated causing some damage to the building.
