IAEA says safety at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant deteriorating after attack

The United Nations nuclear watchdog has warned that the safety at Ukraineโ€™s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was โ€œdeterioratingโ€ after a nearby drone strike.

Russia has accused Ukraine of dropping an explosive charge on a road near the occupied plant in southern Ukraine.

The plant, which was seized by Russia early in the war, has come under repeated attacks that both sides have accused each other of carrying out.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts on site were informed of the detonation near essential plant facilities on Saturday and immediately visited the area, the agency announced in a statement.

They reported that the damage โ€œseemed to have been caused by a drone equipped with an explosive payloadโ€, affecting the road between the plantโ€™s two main gates.

โ€œYet again we see an escalation of the nuclear safety and security dangers facing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,โ€ the IAEA head, Rafael Grossi, said in the statement.

โ€œI remain extremely concerned and reiterate my call for maximum restraint from all sides.”

The โ€œnuclear safety situationโ€ at the plant was โ€œdeterioratingโ€, the statement added.

The IAEA team on site reported โ€œintenseโ€ military activity over the past week in the area, including very close to the plant, it added.

โ€œThe team has heard frequent explosions, repetitive heavy machine-gun and rifle fire and artillery at various distances from the plant,โ€ it said.

Since Russiaโ€™s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the IAEA has repeatedly urged restraint, saying it fears reckless military action could trigger a serious nuclear accident at the plant.

Kyiv and Moscow traded blame last weekend after a fire broke out at a cooling tower at the plant.

IAEA experts were able to visit the base of the cooling tower but have requested further access to assess the situation, according to the Vienna-based nuclear watchdog.

The fire resulted in โ€œconsiderable damageโ€, but there was no immediate threat to nuclear safety, the agency noted.

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