Is Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant at risk of an ‘accident’?

Ukraine’s Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is dangerously close to suffering an accident because of recent drone attacks on it, according to the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

What prompted the alert?

Since April 7, the largest nuclear power facility in Europe has come under a series of drone attacks.

The latest attack that came on Sunday set “a very dangerous precedent” because the reactor confinement structure was hit, said the IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi, whose agency has staff deployed at the facility.

Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for the attacks on the site that was occupied by Russian forces shortly after their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Last week, all six power units of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is located in southeastern Ukraine were switched to the cold shutdown mode for the first time since 2022.

How did the world react?

On Monday, the UN Security Council (UNSC) addressed the fears of a nuclear catastrophe, with Grossi calling for the end to “these reckless attacks” on the plant. “Though, fortunately, they have not led to a radiological incident this time, they significantly increase the risk at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, where nuclear safety is already compromised,” he said.

“We are getting dangerously close to a nuclear accident. We must not allow complacency to let a roll of the dice decide what happens tomorrow,” Grossi said. “Though, fortunately, they have not led to a radiological incident this time, they significantly increase the risk at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, where nuclear safety is already compromised,” he said.

“We are getting dangerously close to a nuclear accident. We must not allow complacency to let a roll of the dice decide what happens tomorrow,” Grossi said. “Though, fortunately, they have not led to a radiological incident this time, they significantly increase the risk at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, where nuclear safety is already compromised,” he said.

“We are getting dangerously close to a nuclear accident. We must not allow complacency to let a roll of the dice decide what happens tomorrow,” Grossi said.