“Any attack on nuclear power plants is a suicidal thing,” Guterres told reporters in Tokyo on Monday. “I hope these attacks will stop,” he said, calling on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to have access to the plant.
The Zaporizhzhia plant occupies an extensive site on the Dnipro River. It has continued to operate at a reduced capacity since Russian forces captured it in early March, and Ukrainian technicians are still working.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s state energy company Energoatom said a worker was injured by Russian shelling around the plant on Saturday.
Energoatom claimed that three radiation monitoring sensors were also damaged, saying that “timely detection and response in the event of an aggravation of the radiation situation or radiation leakage from spent nuclear fuel barrels is currently impossible.”
“A nuclear catastrophe was miraculously averted this time, but miracles can’t last forever,” the company added.
Speaking on Ukrainian television, Energoatom President Petro Kotin said a strike on Sunday was 20 meters away from the processed fuel storage area.
“If they had hit the containers with the processed fuel, it would have been a radiation accident,” he said.
Kotin suggested that if one container is hit, “it will be a local accident in the territory of the plant and in the nearby territory. If it is two (or) three containers, the affected area will increase.”
Kotin also said that communication lines between the nuclear plant, the hydroelectric plant and Ukraine’s energy system had been broken during the bombing.
“As of now, the Zaporizhzhia NPP is connected to the energy system of Ukraine with only one communication line. If all the lines are damaged, the plant will be transferred to the so-called “off” mode, that is to say, it will become completely de-energized. And that situation will be very dangerous to keep nuclear reactor fuel in safe conditions,” he said.
It was the second time in as many days that the plant had been hit. Ukraine and Russia have swapped blame for the two attacks.
Russian-backed authorities in the nearest town — Enerhodar — said a Ukrainian missile landed within 400 meters of one of the plant’s reactors. The city was taken by Russian forces at the same time as the power station.
“Tonight, armed formations of Ukraine struck with a 220mm Uragan cluster rocket,” the local authority said, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
“Administrative buildings and the adjacent territory of the dry barrel storage facility were damaged by the projectiles. It is important to note that the impact site of the warhead shrapnel and the propulsion engine itself rocket is no more than 400 meters from the active reactor.” authorities said.
CNN cannot verify claims made by either party. The Russians have been shelling the Ukrainian-controlled city of Nikopol from positions around the plant.
Fears over the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have been growing since Russian forces seized the site, but reached a tipping point on Friday when shelling damaged a high-voltage power line and forced one of the plant’s reactors to shut down, although there was no radioactive leak. being detected
After the attack, Energoatom said that Russian fire had damaged a nitrogen-oxygen station and the combined auxiliary building, and that “there were still risks of hydrogen leaks and radioactive dust, and the danger of “fire is also high”.
On Saturday, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said he was deeply concerned by the bombing “which underscores the very real risk of a nuclear disaster that could threaten public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond.” .
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has accused Russia of using the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to terrorize Europe, said on Sunday he spoke with European Council President Charles Michel about the situation at the complex.
“Russian nuclear terror requires a stronger response from the international community: sanctions on the Russian nuclear industry and nuclear fuel,” Zelensky tweeted.
The IAEA has been trying to coordinate a mission of safeguarding experts to visit the plant since it was seized by Russian forces. Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk, Ukraine’s ambassador to the IAEA in Vienna, warned of catastrophic consequences if anything happened to the plant during a press conference on Monday, saying it would not be “comparable even to Chernobyl or Fukushima.” .
Tsymbaliuk told Ukraine that he would like to see a delegation of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations visit the station to monitor its condition, but that Russia’s military actions in Ukraine are making this trip is “impossible”.
“Irresponsible breach of nuclear safety rules”
As Russia and Ukraine blame each other for recent rocket and missile attacks near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Energoatom President Kotin said Russian forces must be expelled from the plant and ‘should create a demilitarized zone in the territory of the central.
He also repeated Ukraine’s claims that Russia had transferred weapons to the plant’s power units.
“There are 14 units of heavy military equipment in the first power unit. There are 6 vehicles in the second engine room and we do not know what is inside these vehicles. There are also heavy weapons,” he said.
He also claimed that Russian troops had occupied all shelters at the power plant and that the workers had nowhere to go when the bombings occurred.
Several Western and Ukrainian officials believe that Russia is now using the giant nuclear facility as a bastion to protect its troops and stage attacks, because they assume that Kyiv will not fire back and risk a crisis.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused Moscow of using the plant to protect its forces, while Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in a recent security assessment that Russia’s actions at the complex sabotage the security of its operations.
The Ukrainian mayor of Enerhodar, Dmytro Orlov, said in late July that Russian forces had been observed using heavy weaponry near the plant because “they know very well that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will not respond to these attacks , as they can damage nuclear power.” plant”.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry warned on Friday that further attacks on the plant could be disastrous.
“The possible consequences of hitting a functioning reactor are equivalent to using an atomic bomb,” the ministry said on Twitter.