Russia’s atomic energy agency said a Ukrainian drone struck a cooling tower of the Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant (NNPP), located about 100 miles north of the border. While officials say there was no substantial damage to the plant, it was the fourth nuclear power facility in the region to have munitions land on or very close to it in the past two weeks.

Regardless of the level of damage incurred at NNPP, Russia is worried enough about drone strikes on its nuclear facilities that it is beefing up its defenses at a test site in the Arctic. You can read more about that later in this story.

The NNPP cooling tower was hit by a drone flying near the plant that was downed by electronic warfare, Russia’s Rosenergoatom claimed on Telegram. As a result, the agency said it hit the cooling tower of the No. 6 reactor and exploded upon impact. These structures are generally built to withstand light aircraft impacts.

“There is no destruction or casualties; however, a dark mark remained on the cooling tower from the consequences of the detonation,” Rosenergoatom stated. “The safety of the nuclear power plant operation is ensured, the radiation background at the industrial site of the Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant and the adjacent territory has not changed and corresponds to natural background levels. Law enforcement agencies are working at the scene.”

The reactor is working and producing the planned 1,139 MW electricity output, according to Rosenergoatom. Three other units are also still working, while a fourth is shut down for routine maintenance.

“As a result of a detailed inspection of the cooling tower attacked by the UAV, NNPP specialists found no damage affecting the load-bearing capacity of the structure and the operability of the cooling tower,” the agency added.

Ukrainian officials have yet to comment on this incident, which took place as Kyiv’s drones frequently attack the Voronezh region. Despite Ukraine’s ongoing campaign against energy facilities in Russia, it is quite likely that this strike was inadvertent. Kyiv has been attacking oil and gas plants, not nuclear ones, though Russia claims it downed a drone in August that caused a fire and temporarily reduced the electrical output at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant. However, we can’t tell for sure if either of these strikes was deliberate or not. Russia frequently blames damage from drone strikes on electronic warfare or air defense shootdowns, even if an intended target was hit.

It is also possible that the damage at NNPP was caused by Russian air defenses. These systems can fail, as you can see in the following video. Russia has also claimed that damage caused by failed air defenses was caused by enemy munitions in the past.

Regardless, as Ukraine develops newer long-range weapons with far larger warheads, even an accidental strike on one of these sites could have far greater consequences. You can read more about one of Ukraine’s newest long-range weapons in our story we published today here.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has yet to comment, but has expressed high concern about drones flying near the South (SNPP) and Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). 

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi issued warnings about ZNPP. That plant has been operating on backup diesel fuel generators since Sept. 23, after power lines were downed. Ukrainian officials claim Russia cut the lines on purpose, which Russia denies. ZNPP is inactive; however, pumps are needed to keep water cooling reactors so they don’t melt down. The power outage is the longest experienced by ZNPP during this conflict, Grossi stated.

Regardless of who cut the lines, munitions are dropping close to the plant, which Russia occupied in the early days of the war.

The IAEA team at ZNPP “today heard multiple rounds of incoming and outgoing shelling, adding to nuclear safety risks at a time when the plant has been without off-site power for nearly two weeks,” Grossi said in a statement on Monday. “The shelling occurred between [2:05 pm and 3:30 pm] local time, totalling about 15 rounds at near and middle distance from the site, the team reported. Some explosions triggered car alarms.”

Around the same time, “the ZNPP informed the IAEA team that two rounds of shelling struck around 1.25 km (about three-quarters of a mile) from the site perimeter, in the vicinity of a fire extinguisher charging station. No casualties were reported and there was no immediate information about any damage.”

“The nuclear safety and security situation is clearly not improving,” Grossi cautioned. “On the contrary, the risks are growing. The plant has now been without off-site power for almost two weeks, forcing it to rely on emergency diesel generators for the electricity it needs to cool its shutdown reactors and spent fuel. This is an extraordinarily challenging situation.”

The massive atomic energy plant in Zaporizhzhia has been a continuous cause for major concern since not long after the war broke out. In March 2022, there was global alarm after Russia shelled a building on the site of ZNPP that sparked a fire and global concerns about potential radiation leaks. The following video shows scenes from that incident.

Fortunately, the reactors were undamaged and no radiation was released.

On Sept. 25, a drone was downed and detonated about a half mile from SNPP in Ukraine, according to the IAEA. SNPP, still active, is located about 150 miles from the front lines in Ukraine’s south-central Mykolaiv region. 

While there was no effect on the plant operations and no casualties, Grossi described the incident as another “close call.”

“The team was informed by the plant that 22 unmanned aerial vehicles were observed late last night and early this morning within its monitoring zone, some coming as close as half a kilometer from the site,” IAEA reported. “South Ukraine is one of the country’s three operational nuclear power plants (NPPs), its three reactors currently generating electricity at full capacity.”

From their accommodation near the plant, IAEA team members heard gunfire and explosions around 1 am local time. When they visited the location where one of the drones landed, they observed a crater measuring four square meters (about 43 square feet) at the surface and with a depth of around one meter (about 3 feet).

Nearby metal structures had been hit by shrapnel and the windows of vehicles close to the impact area were shattered, the team reported. A 150 kilovolt (kV) regional power line was also damaged, the plant said, though it was not connected to SNPP.

“Once again, drones are flying far too close to nuclear power plants, putting nuclear safety at risk,” Grossi said at the time. “Fortunately, last night’s incident did not result in any damage to the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant itself. Next time we may not be so lucky. I continue to urge both sides to show maximum military restraint around all important nuclear facilities.”

Last month, the defunct Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant lost power for five days after what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed was a drone strike on a nearby energy substation stopped the flow of electricity to a containment structure. Russian officials again denied any involvement. Power was ultimately restored five days later. 

Earlier this year, the containment structures at Chernobyl, shuttered since the 1986 disaster, were damaged by a Russian drone in February. You can see video and images of that incident below. There have been concerns about attacks there since the all-out Russian invasion. Moscow’s forces captured CNPP on the first day of the war as they pushed through the Exclusion Zone surrounding the plant in their initial thrust.

While there was little damage caused at the NNPP, Russian officials are concerned enough about drone strikes, both from near and far, on their nuclear facilities to add new layers of protection. Satellite imagery published by the Barents Observer shows that the Russians have installed so-called metal cope cages on fuel tanks at the Novaya Zemlya nuclear test site, more than 1,500 miles north of Ukraine. In 1961, the world’s largest nuclear bomb, the so-called Tsar Bomba, was dropped over the site.