Europe

Inspectors call for protection zone around Ukraine nuclear plant

International Atomic Energy Agency calls for urgent measures to prevent nuclear accident

A woman is evacuated from an apartment that was hit by a missile strike in Kharkiv. Sergey Bobok/Getty Images

Daniel McLaughlin
Tue Sep 6 2022 - 11:40

International energy experts have called for the immediate creation of a “security protection zone” at a Russian-occupied atomic power plant in southeastern Ukraine, where damage to power lines and radiation sensors has led to fears of a nuclear disaster.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said there was “an urgent need for interim measures to prevent a nuclear accident arising from physical damage caused by military means. This can be achieved by the immediate establishment of a nuclear safety and security protection zone.

“While the ongoing shelling has not yet triggered a nuclear emergency, it continues to represent a constant threat to nuclear safety and security with potential impact on critical safety functions that may lead to radiological consequences with great safety significance,” the agency said in a report on findings from a safety inspection this month.

Europe’s biggest nuclear plant is operated by Ukrainian technicians overseen by Russian troops who seized the area in March. Moscow has rejected international calls to remove its military from the site, which Kyiv says it is using as a “nuclear shield” where it hides heavy weapons and fires at Ukrainian positions across the Dnieper river.

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The IAEA said its inspectors “observed the presence of Russian military personnel, vehicles and equipment at various places” in the plant, and called for “the removal of vehicles from areas that could interfere with the operation of safety and security systems and equipment.”

The agency also noted the presence of Russian nuclear technicians at the plant — where only one of six reactors is now generating power — and warned that this “could lead to interference with the normal lines of operational command or authority and create potential frictions when it comes to decision-making.”

Ukraine and Russia blame each other’s forces for shelling which on Monday disconnected the plant from the national grid for the second time in recent days, and which knocked out power and water supply to the nearby town of Enerhodar on Tuesday.

The IAEA said such artillery fire should be “stopped immediately to avoid any further damages to the plant ... for the safety of the operating staff and to maintain the physical integrity to support safe and secure operation.”

While describing the situation at the plant as “unsustainable”, the agency noted that it “has not found any indication that would give rise to a proliferation concern.”

Before the report was issued, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said disconnection of the power plant from the national grid left the facility “one step away from a radiation disaster.”

“While we controlled the plant, there was no threat of a radiation disaster. As soon as Russia came, the worst scenario imaginable immediately became possible. This requires an international response — from the UN to every normal state,” he added.

The Kremlin insists its forces are protecting the plant and that its “special military operation” in Ukraine will be a success.

Ukraine says its military is slowly retaking territory in the south and east, however, as its forces move forward in some areas behind artillery fire — much of it from western-supplied weapons — that is targeting Russian arms and fuel depots and supply lines.

Ukrainian partisan groups are also attacking Moscow-appointed officials in occupied territory, and on Tuesday Artyom Bardin — so-called military commandant in the Russian-controlled town of Berdyansk — died when his car was blown up.

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Daniel McLaughlin

Daniel McLaughlin

Daniel McLaughlin is a contributor to The Irish Times from central and eastern Europe

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