Vienna, Feb. 24, (dpa/GNA) - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has recorded more than 40 significant incidents affecting Ukrainian nuclear power plants since the beginning of Russia’s invasion, according to a Thursday report.
“We are fortunate that a nuclear accident has not yet come to pass, and we must do everything in our power to minimize the chance that it does,” said IAEA director general Rafael Grossi.
“One year has passed since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, marking the first time in history that a war is being fought amid the facilities of a major nuclear power programme,” Grossi said in the report’s foreword.
“In the past year, several of Ukraine’s five nuclear power plants and other facilities have come under direct shelling. Every single one of the IAEA’s crucial seven indispensable pillars for ensuring nuclear safety and security in an armed conflict has been compromised.”
Soon after the beginning of the conflict, Russian troops seized the former Chernobyl power plant in northern Ukraine, occupying it for five weeks. Chernobyl was the site of a devastating nuclear accident in 1986 and radioactive waste is still stored there.
On March 4, Russian troops occupied the Zaporizhzhya facility in south-eastern Ukraine, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which remains under Russian control to this day. Grossi has been negotiating with Kiev and Moscow for a safety zone around the site for months – so far without success.
The plant was repeatedly shelled and suffered power supply issues since the beginning of the conflict. Such incidents were recorded almost daily by IAEA experts. Moscow and Kiev have blamed each other for the attacks.
In November, four of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants were cut off from the external power supply for two days. Nuclear accidents were prevented with emergency generators.
For weeks, the IAEA has been monitoring the water level in the Kakhovka Reservoir, which provides cooling water for the Zaporizhzhya plant.
The report noted that the level has decreased since the start of the war and, while it “does not pose an immediate risk to nuclear safety and security, it may become a source of concern if it is allowed to continue.”
The government in Kiev blames Moscow for this.
GNA