Ukraine escaped disaster during a weekend of fighting at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the United Nations atomic watchdog said, in which a barrage of shells, some of which landed near the reactors, has damaged a radioactive waste storage building.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on NATO members to ensure protection from “Russian sabotage” of nuclear facilities.
risk of nuclear accident
The chief executive of Russia’s state nuclear agency, Rosatom, said he had discussed Sunday’s bombing with the International Atomic Energy Agency and that there were risks of a nuclear accident.
The attack came as battles erupted in the east after Russian forces moved into the industrial region of Donbass from the vicinity of Kherson, which Ukrainian forces in the south of the country recently recaptured.
“bet with souls”
In turn, Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that whoever shot up the station “is taking great risks and gambling with many people’s lives”.
Comparison of security measures at Chernobyl and Zaporizhia stations
The International Atomic Energy Agency inspected the site on Monday. The agency said that during their tour they discovered extensive damage, but without damaging the station’s underlying systems.
No immediate worries
“They were able to confirm that despite the intensity of the shelling, major equipment remained intact and there are no immediate nuclear safety or security issues,” the agency added in a statement released on Monday evening.
Interestingly, the repeated bombings of the plant during the war raised fears of a major catastrophe in the country, which suffered the worst nuclear accident in the world – the explosion of the Chernobyl plant in 1986.
On Monday, Russia and Ukraine accused each other of being responsible for at least 12 explosions near Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which has been under Russian control since the early days of the war on Feb. 24.
