UN atomic watchdog chief visits Ukraine nuclear plant threatened by war with Russia

By AP 15 June 2023, 3:01 pm

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In this photo provided by the IAEA Press Office, UN atomic energy chief Rafael Mariano Grossi stands on a road next to a UN vehicle on his way to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, in southeastern Ukraine, March 29, 2023. (IAEA Press Office via AP)

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog visits Europe’s largest atomic power plant in southern Ukraine, where a dam recently burst and the start of a counteroffensive in the war by Kyiv’s forces have heightened safety risks.

The visit is announced by Ukraine’s national nuclear energy company, Energoatom, in a Telegram post.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, the International Atomic Energy Agency chief, met Tuesday in Kyiv with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss concerns about the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

The IAEA has repeatedly expressed alarm about the facility, which is one of the 10 biggest in the world, amid fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe. The agency has officials stationed at the plant, which is still run by its Ukrainian staff.

The plant has repeatedly been caught in the crossfire since Russia launched its war on Ukraine in February 2022 and seized the facility shortly after.

Last week, the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine’s partially Russian-occupied Kherson region added a new concern. The dam, further down the Dnieper River, helped keep water in a reservoir that cools the plant’s reactors.