Attacks on Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have increased, Grossi says

The number of attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has increased, and the security situation there remains serious. Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said this today after meeting Alexei Likhachev, head of the Russian company Rosatom, in Moscow. Russia has occupied Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia NPP since the first days of its invasion, and the two sides in the conflict accuse each other of shelling it.

„The security situation remains very difficult. In addition, we are seeing an increase in attacks,“ Grossi said today, according to the Russian news agency TASS.

Likhachev also spoke of a rising number of attacks on the nuclear power plant, but the Russian official blamed the Ukrainian armed forces. „In my view, the risk of attacks by the Ukrainian armed forces is increasing. This is evident from the number of drones and missiles shot down and the number of artillery strikes landing on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia NPP,“ the Rosatom chief said.

Grossi, however, did not want to specify where the weapons came from. „Small fragments of plastic or wood left behind by suspected drones do not allow us to speak about the origin of these fragments and devices,“ the IAEA chief said, according to TASS, adding that he always raises the issue in international discussions.

Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, and Russian forces seized Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plants not long afterward, in dramatic circumstances. Ukrainian officials warned at the time that Russia had shelled the plant and a fire had broken out there. Since then, both sides have accused each other of shelling it.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, considered the largest in Europe, is located in Enerhodar, Ukraine, near the front line. The IAEA maintains a team of experts at the plant who monitor the situation. The occupied facility is shut down, but it still needs power to run key systems such as reactor cooling.

Grossi also visited Ukraine this week, where he inspected an electrical substation important to the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power sector. He later warned on X that attacks on Ukraine’s power grid could lead to a nuclear accident. „A nuclear accident can occur after a direct attack on a power plant, but also after a disruption to electricity supplies,“ Grossi said. Nuclear reactors need electricity supplies to be cooled.

Moscow regularly attacks Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, including substations. So far, however, it has avoided direct strikes on the remaining nuclear power plants under Ukrainian control, which generate more than half of the country’s electricity.