The Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, which is under Russian control, was hit by bombing on Sunday (20). The United Nations (UN) nuclear watchdog condemned the incident and said such attacks could lead to a nuclear disaster.
More than a dozen explosions rocked Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant on Saturday night (19) and Sunday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said. Moscow and Kyiv blamed the other for the bombing of the facility.
“The news from our team yesterday and this morning is extremely disturbing,” said Rafael Grossi, head of the IAEA. His team said there was damage to some of the plant’s buildings, systems and equipment.
“Explosions have occurred at the site of this large nuclear power plant, which is completely unacceptable. Whoever is behind this, must stop immediately. As I’ve said many times before, you’re playing with fire!”
Repeated bombing of the plant in southern Ukraine, which Russia took control of shortly after its invasion in February, has raised concerns about the potential for a serious accident just 500 km from the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident, Chornobyl, in 1986.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant supplied about one-fifth of Ukraine’s electricity before the February 24 invasion of Russia and has been forced to run on standby generators several times. It has six Soviet-designed water-cooled and water-moderated VVER-1000 V-320 reactors containing uranium-235.
The reactors are shut down, but there is a risk that the nuclear fuel will overheat if the power that drives the cooling systems is cut. The bombings repeatedly cut power lines.
exchange of accusations
Both Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of attacking the plant on several occasions during the conflict and risking a nuclear accident, and they again traded accusations on Sunday.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukraine had fired projectiles at power lines supplying the plant, while TASS said some of the site’s storage facilities had been hit by Ukrainian bombing, citing an official at Russian nuclear power operator Rosenergoatom.
“They bombed not only yesterday but also today, they are bombing now,” said Renat Karchaa, adviser to the CEO of Rosenergoatom, adding that any artillery strike on the site posed a threat to nuclear security.
Karchaa said the projectiles were fired near a dry nuclear waste storage facility and a building that houses fresh nuclear fuel, but that no radioactive emissions were currently detected, according to TASS.
Ukraine’s nuclear power company Energoatom accused the Russian military of bombing the site and said there had been at least 12 attacks on the plant’s infrastructure.
He said Russia had targeted the infrastructure needed to restart parts of the plant in a bid to further limit Ukraine’s power supplies.
Source: CNN Brasil
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