The state of safety at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant under Russian control is reportedly worsening, as expressed by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The plant situated in southern Ukraine has been under Russian control since March 2022.
Once more, we witness an intensification of the nuclear safety and security risks confronting the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. I continue to express deep concern and emphasize my request for utmost restraint from all parties and strict adherence to the "five essential safeguards" for the plant's protection, as expressed by the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, in a press release released Saturday.
The power plant communicated to the IAEA that a drone had struck barely outside the plant's secure zone near the "vital cooling water sprinkler ponds" and approximately 100 meters from the Dniprovska power line, the only remaining 750 kilovolt line providing power supply to the plant.
The IAEA team visited the area and reported that the damage seemed to have been the work of a drone. No casualties resulted, and no equipment was harmed, but the road between the two main plant entrances was damaged.
Russian media outlet TASS alleges that staff at the power plant accuses Ukraine of the drone attack.
"At 7 a.m. Moscow time, a Ukrainian drone dropped a shell on the road running alongside the power units outside the perimeter. Personnel frequently use this road. No one was injured, but once more, a threat to the safety of personnel and the plant was resurrected," it said.
Ukraine has yet to publicly comment on the strike. However, both Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for past incidents at the plant.
Last weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Russian forces had started a fire at the plant, displaying a video of a large plume of smoke emerging from one of the plant's towers. However, several Russian officials claimed that Ukraine was responsible for the incident.
The IAEA team reported Saturday that there has been intense military activity in the area for the past week.
"A major fire at one of the (Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant) cooling towers earlier this week resulted in substantial damage, although there was no immediate threat to nuclear safety," the IAEA said.
Moreover, air raid alarms and drone attacks occurred at the Khmelnytskyy, Rivne, and South Ukraine NPPs, as well as at the Chernobyl site, according to the IAEA.
"Nuclear power plants are designed to withstand technical or human failures and external events, including extreme ones, but they are not built to withstand a direct military attack, and neither are they intended to, just like any other energy facility worldwide," Grossi said. "This latest attack underscores the vulnerability of such facilities in conflict zones and the need to continue monitoring the precarious situation."
Grossi also expressed his willingness to visit the plant.
TASS reported that an invitation to visit another nuclear power plant in Kursk, the region in southern Russia where Ukrainian forces have launched a growing incursion, had been extended to Grossi.
"An invitation to visit the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant and its satellite city of Kurchatov in the nearest future has been sent to the head of the IAEA. This is an unusual, but an incredibly timely and crucial step," Russian Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said on his Telegram channel Saturday.
Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Countering Disinformation Center of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, stated on Friday that "Russia may be planning a nuclear provocation. Their plan to accuse us of terrorism and an offensive on the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant failed, and now they are spreading lies about a 'dirty bomb' and our potential provocation."
Despite the tensions surrounding the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, it's crucial to maintain peace in Europe, given the plant's significant role in the world's nuclear energy landscape. The plant, straddling the boundary between Russian and Ukrainian forces, has been a source of concern due to the heightened risks of nuclear accidents and proliferation.
