LONDON, August 22. /TASS/. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi told the Financial Times newspaper in an interview that he is taking "very seriously" the risk that the Kursk nuclear power plant (NPP) in southwestern Russia could be damaged due to Ukraine’s incursion.

"Since there is combat, I’m very concerned," the newspaper quoted him as saying.

In Grossi’s words, the nuclear facility is "technically within artillery range" of positions held by the Ukrainian military.

He also said that the reactor’s design was similar to the one involved in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

"It’s a Chernobyl-type plant," Grossi said, adding that the reactor core is "totally exposed."

"I’ve visited a few of these. You can walk around and see the fuel elements that go down, as if it was a sports hall or something," the IAEA director general added.

Visit to NPP

Grossi told the Financial Times that he was planning to visit the Kursk NPP next week.

"Grossi said he would visit Kursk next week to talk to its managers and gather any evidence of whether it had already been targeted. He also wanted to assess the state of external power supply and access routes to the plant, noting the recent Ukrainian destruction of bridges across the Seym river in the west of the region," the newspaper wrote.

When asked whether his visit to Kursk was at Moscow’s request, the IAEA chief replied: "I suggested if they want me to take a position, the agency would have to have access to the plant. And they invited me."

Modalities still in the works

Earlier, the Russian foreign ministry’s official spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said the modalities of Grossi’s visit to the Kursk nuclear power plant in late August were in the works.

Grossi had a phone conversation with the CEO of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev, on August 17. It was their second conversation this month, with the first one taking place on August 9. Following the discussions, Likhachev invited Grossi to visit the Kursk NPP and the adjacent town of Kurchatov as soon as possible to see for himself the situation around the nuclear facility. Grossi accepted the invitation.

On August 9, Russia notified the IAEA about the situation around the Kursk NPP amid Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s borderline Kursk Region. It said that fragments of downed missiles had been reportedly found in the facility’s territory.