IAEA employees recorded explosions near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which coincided with information about a drone attack on the station's training center.
Points of attention
- IAEA employees recorded two explosions near the Zaporizhzhia NPP, confirming information about a drone attack on the station's training center.
- According to the IAEA Director General, these events indicate a threat to nuclear safety, but the equipment and personnel of the ZNPP were not damaged.
- The Zheleznodorozhny NPP, which is under the control of Russian troops, has already experienced eight complete blackouts and one partial one since the occupation.
- The President of Ukraine called on the IAEA and the world community to respond to the fire allegedly caused by Russian occupiers at the Zaporizhzhia NPP.
- IAEA experts examined the damage to the station after the drone strike, and the cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
What is known about the new explosions near the ZNPP
As IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi reported, these events indicate "another threat to nuclear safety."
In particular, the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission team recorded two explosions on January 5 — at 12:45 and 15:45, and also heard several machine-gun bursts.
The report states that the explosions occurred outside the perimeter of the training center site. Fortunately, ZNPP equipment and station personnel were not harmed.
Recall that the Zapadnaya NPP has been occupied and under the control of Russian troops since March 2022. During the occupation, the plant experienced eight complete blackouts and one partial one.
The IAEA mission has been operating at the ZNPP since September 2022.
The Russian army set fire to the Zapadnaya NPP
On August 11, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Russian occupiers had set a fire at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. He called on the IAEA and the international community to respond to the incident.
At the same time, no changes in the radiation situation in the area of the Zaporizhzhia NPP were recorded.
The head of the Nikopol RVA, Yevhen Yevtushenko, said that the ZNPP is operating normally, and the Russians probably set fire to a large number of car tires in the cooling tower. Cooling tower number one is located about a kilometer from the power units of the plant.
Instead, the Russian occupiers accused Ukraine of shelling Energodar and stated that the radiation background around the ZNPP was normal.
Later, IAEA experts inspected the cooling tower after the fire at the Zaporizhzhia NPP. However, they were unable to determine the cause of the fire.
On August 18, IAEA representatives reported that a drone strike occurred at the occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP, which occurred outside the station's security zone.
According to preliminary data, the drone exploded near the cooling ponds, approximately 100 meters from the Dnipro power line, which is the only 750 kilovolt line supplying energy to the ZNPP.
An IAEA team that inspected the incident site found damage likely caused by a drone explosion.
