Kursk nuclear plant vulnerable to serious accident if attacked: UN watchdog

A nuclear plant in western Russia, where fighting is raging between Russian and Ukrainian forces, is especially vulnerable to a serious accident because it lacks a protective dome that could shield it from missiles, drones or artillery, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said on Aug 27.

Mr Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, spoke after visiting the plant in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces pierced the border in a lightning incursion on Aug 6 and Russia is still battling to eject them.

Mr Grossi told reporters that the RBMK-type facility the same model as the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine that witnessed the world's worst civilian nuclear disaster in 1986 - lacks the containment dome and protective structure that is typical of modern nuclear power stations.

"This means that the core of the reactor containing nuclear material is protected just by a normal roof. This makes it extremely exposed and fragile, for example, to an artillery impact or a drone or a missile," he said.

"So this is why we believe that a nuclear power plant of this type, so close to a point of contact or a military front, is an extremely serious fact that we take very seriously." Mr Grossi said it would be an exaggeration to equate Kursk with Chernobyl, where an accident caused a deadly explosion that spewed a radioactive cloud over parts of eastern Europe.