UN says attacks on Ukraine facility are ‘disturbing’ and ‘unacceptable’

On Sunday, Russia-controlled Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was bombed and condemned by the UN nuclear watchdog, who said such attacks pose a major risk of nuclear disaster.

More than a dozen explosions shook Europe’s largest nuclear power plant late Saturday and Sunday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said. Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other for the bombing of the facility.

“The news from our team yesterday (Saturday) and this morning is extremely disturbing,” said IAEA chief Rafael Grossi. “There have been explosions where this huge nuclear power plant is located, which is absolutely unacceptable. Whoever is behind this, stop immediately. As I have said many times before, you are playing with fire!”

Based on information provided by facility management, the IAEA team on the ground said there was damage to some buildings, systems and equipment, but so far nothing critical to nuclear safety.

Repeated bombings of the factory in southern Ukraine, which was taken over by Russia shortly after its invasion in February, has raised concerns about a possible serious incident in 1986, just 500 kilometers from Chernobyl, the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant supplied one-fifth of Ukraine’s electricity before the Russian invasion on February 24 and was forced to run with backup generators several times. The nuclear power plant has six Soviet-designed VVER-1000 V-320 model reactors containing uranium-235, cooled or water-controlled.

The reactors are off, but there is a risk of overheating the nuclear fuel if power to the cooling systems is cut off. The bombing cut the power lines several times.

exchange of blame

Both Kyiv and Moscow accused the other of attacking the facility and risking a nuclear accident several times during the conflict, and both countries once again blamed each other on Sunday.

While the Russian defense ministry said that Ukraine dropped bombs on the power lines feeding the plant, the TASS news agency reported that some of the plant’s storage facilities were hit by Ukrainian bombing, citing an official from Russia’s nuclear power operator Rosenergoatom.

“They bombed not only yesterday (Saturday), but also today (Sunday), they are bombing right now,” said Renat Karchaa, Rosenergoatom’s chief adviser. He added that any artillery attack on the area would pose a threat to nuclear security.

According to TASS, Karchaa said the bombs were dropped near a dry nuclear waste storage facility and a building that receives spent nuclear fuel, but no radioactive emissions have been detected so far.

Ukraine’s nuclear power company Energoatom accused the Russian military of bombing the area and said there were at least 12 hits on the plant’s infrastructure.

The company also said that Russia is targeting the infrastructure needed to restart parts of the plant in order to further limit Ukraine’s energy supplies.