UN nuclear agency team arrives at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

UN vehicles transporting an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection team arrive in Zaporizhzhia Wednesday. Pic/AFP

A team from the UN nuclear agency has arrived at the site of Europe's largest nuclear plant to inspect security conditions that forced the shutdown of one reactor, Ukraine's nuclear energy operator said Thursday.

Energoatom said the team from the International Atomic Energy Agency had arrived at the Zaporizhzhia plant that has been in the thick of recent fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces more than six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine.

The company said earlier Thursday that Russian mortar shelling led to the shutdown of one of its reactors by its emergency protection system. Shelling also damaged a backup power supply line used for in-house needs, and one of the plant's reactors that wasn't operating was switched to diesel generators, the company said.

Rafael Grossi, director, IAEA

The IAEA spokesperson said around 12:00 local time (0900 GMT) that the mission had been delayed on the Ukrainian-controlled side for three hours.

A group of inspectors from the IAEA led by its director Rafael Grossi, set off for the power plant. "There has been increased military activity, including this morning until very recently," Grossi said, adding that after being briefed by the Ukrainian military he decided to get moving despite the inherent risks. "But weighing the pros and cons and having come so far, we are not stopping."

He noted that the risks are "very, very high" in the so-called grey zone between Ukrainian and Russian positions, but "we consider that we have the minimum conditions to move".

The Ukrainian president's chief of staff accused Russia of seeking to "wreck" the IAEA's inspection visit to the plant, saying Russia shelled the plant again on Thursday. "The Russians have shelled (the town of) Enerhodar and the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant," Yermak wrote on Telegram, accusing Russia of acting like a "terrorist state".

"It is Russia that is responsible for everything happening at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and in Enerhodar," Yermak wrote on Thursday, adding, "They want to wreck the IAEA mission's visit." Presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter that Russia was conducting "demonstrative strikes" in Enerhodar in order to blame Ukraine for them. "Russia conducts demonstrative strikes on Enerhodar, along the IAEA mission's official route, in order to blame Ukraine for this," Podolyak wrote, adding that this was a "demonstration of (Russia's) real ‘interest' in the inspection".

The mission by IAEA aims to assess risks from ongoing hostilities in the area. Russia's defence ministry and a local Moscow-backed official accused Ukraine of an attempt to seize the plant after it said up to 60 Ukrainian soldiers crossed the front-line Dnipro river in boats early on Thursday. The ministry said that "measures had been taken" to destroy the Ukrainian troops, including use of military aviation.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever