Russia Holds Major Nuclear Accident Drill at Beloyarsk Plant
The drill is part of an annual program in which different Russian nuclear plants take turns hosting large exercises.
More than 1,000 personnel conducted a two-day emergency drill at Russia's Beloyarsk nuclear power plant on Tuesday, simulating simultaneous accidents at two reactors. The exercise, the largest in the Russian nuclear industry this year, took place in the Sverdlovsk region and aims to test the response of staff and emergency services to a natural disaster combined with failures in reactor safety systems.
Despite the simulated scenario, the plant's reactors remained operational throughout the drill. Emergency crews, including firefighters, military vehicles, and decontamination experts, practiced clearing debris, extinguishing fires, setting up decontamination facilities, and sheltering and evacuating residents. Plant management reassured residents to remain calm during the exercise, which may have included sirens and loudspeaker announcements.
The drill, part of an annual program rotating among Russian nuclear plants, was designed to integrate highly unlikely events to evaluate emergency preparedness. Russian regulations mandate such exercises involving specialist support teams and emergency services at least once annually, with international standards also calling for regular drills to test coordination between plant staff and outside agencies.
The Beloyarsk exercise included plant employees, Rosenergoatom and Rosatom specialists, rescuers, police, medical workers, local officials, and observers from Belarus and Kazakhstan. The Beloyarsk plant provides approximately 16% of the Sverdlovsk region's electricity and operates two BN-600 and BN-800 fast-neutron reactors, commissioned in 1980 and 2015, respectively.
The drill comes amid reported drone strikes on Russian nuclear infrastructure, though the announced scenario focuses on a natural disaster and equipment failures. Rosatom reported drones striking cooling towers at the Kursk II nuclear power plant twice this year, with no impact on plant operations or radiation levels.
Written by urgent.news from The Moscow Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
