KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog held talks with senior officials in Ukraine on Tuesday over security concerns surrounding Europe’s largest nuclear plant, where attacks were recently reported nearby.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, made his tenth visit since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022.
Grossi posted on X that he was on his way to Zaporizhia to “help prevent a nuclear accident.”
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which came under Russian control after the 2022 invasion, was shelled with artillery fire the day before, damaging the power supply to the plant, according to operator Energoatom, which blamed Russia for the attacks.
“Russian shelling damaged one of the two external overhead lines through which … the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant receives power from the Ukrainian grid,” the operator said in a message on the messaging and social network Telegram. “In the event of damage to the second line, an emergency situation will occur,” the message said, adding that technicians were unable to reach the site of the damage due to the “real threat of repeated shelling.”
The Vienna-based IAEA says ongoing attacks in the Zaporizhzhia region, as well as damage to the country’s power grid, threaten power supplies vital to Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. The watchdog said its staff in Zaporizhzhia recently had to shelter indoors due to reported drone threats in the area.
Besides Zaporizhia, there are three other active nuclear power plants in Ukraine.
Grossi, traveling with a team of IAEA experts and officials, began a series of meetings in Kiev with a stop at the Energy Ministry and talks with Minister Herman Halushchenko.
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