Monitoring staff of the International Atomic Energy Agency on 5 January reported hearing loud blasts near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, coinciding with reports of a drone attack on the plant’s training centre, marking yet another threat to nuclear safety at Europe’s largest NPP, said IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi releasing the Agency’s latest Update, number 269.
The IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya team stationed at ZNPP reported hearing the explosions close to the perimeter of the site at approximately 12:45 and 15:45. As yet the IAEA has not yet been able to confirm any impact. The IAEA team also reported hearing machine gun fire coming from the site on multiple occasions.
The IAEA is also aware of reports of an alleged attack by a drone at the ZNPP training centre on the same day, just outside of the site’s perimeter. However reports state that there were no casualties and no impact on any NPP equipment.
But the ISAMZ team has reported that the intensity of military activity in the vicinity of Europe’s largest NPP – including multiple explosions at various distances from the site – has increased over the last 24 hours. “An attack on any nuclear power plant is completely unacceptable,” director general Grossi stated. “In light of the increased military activity at ZNPP, I once again call for maximum restraint to avert the clear danger to its safety, and for the strict adherence to the five concrete principles established by the IAEA at the United Nations Security Council to protect the facility, and the seven indispensible pillars of nuclear safety during an armed conflict also defined by the IAEA”.
