A UAV of the Armed Forces of Ukraine crashed into the cooling tower of the operating power unit of the Novovoronezh NPP on the night of October 6 to 7, reported «Rosenergoatom» on its Telegram channel. After the drone was suppressed by electronic warfare means, it crashed into the power unit's cooling tower. After the collision with the tower evaporative cooling tower of the operating power unit No. 6 of the Novovoronezh NPP, the UAV detonated, the company stated.
«The safety of the nuclear power plant's operation is ensured, the radiation background at the industrial site of the Novovoronezh NPP and the surrounding area has not changed and corresponds to natural background levels. Law enforcement agencies are working at the site. The incident did not affect the operation of the plant — currently, power units No. 4, 5 and 6 are in operation at the Novovoronezh NPP. Power unit No. 7 is under scheduled maintenance since October 4. The total capacity is 2,556 MW», — the statement says
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, 18 drones were shot down over the Voronezh region overnight. The region's governor, Alexander Gusev, reported in the morning that in one of the municipalities, drone debris damaged glazing and boiler room networks, but he did not mention any damage to the NPP.
Recently, a serious situation has developed around the Zaporizhzhia NPP, located in territory occupied by Russia. It has been disconnected from external power sources for more than 10 days and is only supplied through diesel generators. Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of not trying to rectify the situation and allow Ukrainian specialists to restore external power to the ZNPP, which should operate continuously under normal conditions. The IAEA warned that in the long term, this could be unsafe.