Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of trying to hit Russia's Kursk nuclear power plant in an attack last night, without providing any evidence to support his claim, Reuters reported.
The agency notes that Ukraine has yet to comment on this claim. Here are some details about the power plant:
- The Kursk NPP is one of the largest nuclear power plants in Russia. It supplies about half of the electricity used in the Central Black Earth region in the south of Russia.
- It is located on the Seym River, near the city of Kurchatov, named after the Russian nuclear physicist Igor Kurchatov and located in the western part of the Kursk Region in Russia. Ukrainian forces crossed the border into Russia's Kursk region on August 6.
- The nuclear power plant has four reactors of the RBMK-1000 type with a graphite moderator - the same design as those at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which in 1986, as part of the former Soviet Union, became the arena of the world's worst nuclear disaster .
- Reactor number 1, which dates back to 1976, was shut down at the Kursk NPP in 2021 to operate in non-electricity mode. Reactor number 2, which dates from 1979, is shut down in 2024. Reactor number 3, which dates from 1983, and reactor number 4, which dates from 1985, are in operation.
- The construction of the Kursk NPP 2 with essentially new reactors of the VVER TOI type began in 2018. The two reactors have not yet entered into operation.