UN: Attacks around power plant ‘alarming’
Calls to allow nuclear experts access to assess the damage
The United Nations nuclear chief warned yesterday that “very alarming” military activity at Europe’s largest nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine could lead to dangerous consequences for the region and called for an end to attacks at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia facility.
Rafael Grossi urged Russia and Ukraine — who blame each other for the attacks at the plant — to immediately allow nuclear experts to assess damage and evaluate safety and security at the sprawling nuclear complex where the situation “has been deteriorating very rapidly”.
He pointed to shelling and several explosions at Zaporizhzhia last week that forced the shutdown of the electrical power transformer and two backup transformers, forcing the shutdown of one nuclear reactor.
Last week, Grossi said in an Associated Press interview that the situation at Zaporizhzhia was “completely out of control”.
Yesterday, he demanded a halt to military actions “that have even the smallest potential to jeopardise nuclear safety” at such an important installation.
While a preliminary assessment by experts found “no immediate threat to nuclear safety” at the plant from the shelling and military actions, “this could change at any moment”, he warned.
Grossi’s appeal echoed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for an end to all military activity around the Zaporizhzhia plant, warning that any damage could lead to “catastrophic consequences” in the vicinity, the region and beyond.
Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, gave a virtual briefing to the UN Security Council at a meeting called by Russia to discuss what Moscow claims were Ukrainian attacks on the plant.
While the plant is controlled by Russia, its Ukrainian staff continue to run the nuclear operations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told defence leaders in Copenhagen yesterday that the consequences of a radiation accident at Zaporizhzhia “could be even more catastrophic than Chernobyl, and essentially the same as the use of nuclear weapons by Russia”.
“They are doing everything themselves to maximise the risk of a nuclear disaster, and lie to the whole world that someone else is allegedly to blame.”