‘Risk of nuclear disaster’ at Ukraine power plant
THERE is a “very real risk” of nuclear disaster unless fighting around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia power plant stops immediately, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned yesterday.
He was reacting to reports of strikes on the plant on Friday, with Russia and Ukraine accusing each other of hitting at least one of the plant’s power lines, prompting its operators to disconnect a reactor despite no radioactive leak being detected.
“I’m extremely concerned by the shelling yesterday at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which underlines the very real risk of a nuclear disaster that could threaten public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, IAEA’s director general said.
Mr Grossi, who leads the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog, urged all sides in the Ukraine conflict to exercise the “utmost restraint” around the plant.
The site was captured by Russian forces in early March in the opening stage of the war but is still run by its Ukrainian technicians under Moscowinstalled management.
Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear power company, blamed Russia for the damage at the power station. Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the plant, saying a leak of radiation had been avoided only by luck.
Mr Grossi said that military action jeopardising the safety of the Zaporizhzhia plant “is completely unacceptable and must be avoided at all costs”.
“Any military firepower directed at or from the facility would amount to playing with fire, with potentially catastrophic consequences.”
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukraine president, said on Friday that “any bombing of this site is a shameless crime, an act of terror.”
‘Firepower directed at or from the facility would amount to playing with fire, with catastrophic consequences’
The Ukrainian foreign ministry had said that the “possible consequences of hitting a working reactor are equivalent to using an atomic bomb”.
Russia is believed to be storing military kit, including highly combustible ammunition, in Zaporizhzhia’s engine rooms.
Analysts believe Moscow is using the threat of a nuclear meltdown at the site to deter future donations of heavy weaponry by Ukraine’s Western allies.
But a Western official has suggested Ukraine could strike Russian targets around the nuclear plant because it is built to withstand terror attacks, including by aircraft.