The IAEA reported new risks near the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported new military activity near the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant. According to the agency, 11 drones were detected in the NPP’s monitoring zone, some of which approached the plant’s site to within 3.5 kilometers.

This is stated in the latest report by IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi on the situation in Ukraine.

According to the agency, on Sunday, the administration of the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant informed the IAEA team that 11 drones had been detected in the monitoring zone. During this period, mission experts stationed at the plant heard gunfire and the sounds of drones.

The IAEA emphasized that military activity near nuclear power plants continues to pose a serious threat to nuclear safety. The agency once again called on the parties to the conflict to exercise the utmost military restraint near nuclear facilities and energy infrastructure, on which their safe operation depends.

In its report, the IAEA also announced the completion of complex repair work on a key power transmission line that supplies external power to the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The work was carried out following lengthy negotiations, extensive demining efforts, and during a local ceasefire brokered by the agency.

At the same time, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi noted that despite the completion of repairs to the power line, it cannot yet be put into operation due to significant damage to a substation located more than 100 kilometers from the Zaporizhzhia NPP. According to him, repeated attacks on the energy infrastructure on which nuclear power plants depend continue to pose serious risks to nuclear and radiation safety.

In addition to the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant, the IAEA reported drone activity in the area of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Over the course of the week, ten drones were detected there, as well as three fires in the exclusion zone that broke out after the drones crashed.

Андрій Колісніченко