LONDON: Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under Russian control, was rocked by shelling on Sunday, drawing condemnation from the UN nuclear watchdog which said such attacks risked a major disaster.
More than a dozen blasts shook Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant on Saturday evening and Sunday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.
Moscow and Kyiv both blamed the other for the shelling of the facility as they have done repeatedly in recent months after earlier explosions.
IAEA head Rafael Grossi said news of the blasts was extremely disturbing.
“Explosions occurred at the site of this major nuclear power plant, which is completely unacceptable. Whoever is behind this, it must stop immediately. As I have said many times before, you’re playing with fire!” he said in a statement.
Citing information provided by plant management, the IAEA team on the ground said there had been damage to some buildings, systems and equipment, but none of them critical for nuclear safety and security so far.
The team plans to conduct an assessment on Monday, Grossi said in a statement issued later on Sunday.
Russian nuclear power operator Rosenergoatom though said there would be curbs on what the team could inspect.
“They interpret their mandate as having no limits. This is not so,” Renat Karchaa, an adviser to Rosenergoatom’s CEO, told Tass news agency.
“If they want to inspect a facility that has nothing to do with nuclear safety, access will be denied.”
Repeated shelling of the plant in southern Ukraine has raised concern about the potential for a grave accident just 500 km (300 miles) from the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident, the 1986 Chornobyl disaster.
—Agencies

Press Trust of India