Russian drone attacks and power disruptions at Ukrainian nuclear power plants late last week are increasing the odds of a nuclear accident.
The warning comes from the UN-run International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and follows a swarm attack by 22 drones on the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant (SUNPP) early Thursday morning (local and Australian time).
One drone was brought down and blew up 800 metres from the plant while some drones were as close as 500 metres, IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi says.
“Once again drones are flying far too close to nuclear power plants, putting nuclear safety at risk,” he says.
“Fortunately, (the) incident did not result in any damage to the power plant itself. Next time we may not be so lucky. I continue to urge both sides to show maximum military restraint around all important nuclear facilities.”
The IAEA says its team members heard gunfire and explosions around 1am on Thursday (8am AEST); a day inspection discovered a blast crater four square metres wide and one metre deep.
The team reported that nearby metal structures were hit by shrapnel and the windows of vehicles close by were shattered, the team reported.
A 150 kilovolt (kV) power line was damaged but it was not connected to the plant and there were no reports of casualties, the IAEA says.
“For more than three and a half years, the IAEA has been doing everything in its power to help prevent a nuclear accident during this war,” Grossi says.
“We will only be able to say that our mission was successful if the war ends without a serious nuclear accident. Our work is far from finished.”
The agency describes the country’s nuclear safety as “extremely fragile”.
NUCLEAR POWER CONCERNS
The South Ukraine plant is one of the country’s three operational nuclear power plants (NPPs) and its three reactors are generating electricity at full capacity.
The drone attack came 30 hours after the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) suffered its 10th complete loss of offsite power during the war.
The ZNPP is currently using 18 emergency diesel generators to cool its six shutdown reactors and other essential safety functions, the agency reports.
The plant staff have had to gradually reduce the number of generators to seven to supply essential power only to help save diesel fuel; the plant had enough fuel reserves for almost 20 days before the attack.
For more than four months, the ZNPP relied on one line for its offsite power supply; it relied on 10 such lines before the war.
This power line was damaged around 1.5 kilometres from the plant and disconnected at 4:56pm (11.56pm AEST) on Tuesday; an IAEA team from the plant has not been able to inspect the damaged line due to fighting, the latest IAEA report says.
Plant staff have told the IAEA that they can repair that line, and another back-up line, once the fighting stops.
Radiation monitoring stations around the ZNPP continued to show normal levels, which was confirmed by their own team, the IAEA says.
