IAEA warning over drones near nuclear sites
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has said the flying of drones near Zaporizhzhia and other nuclear power plants in Ukraine "should stop immediately".
The comments came after International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) staff at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) reported hearing bursts of gunfire on Wednesday morning "coinciding with a purported drone attack on the site’s training centre" which is situated just outside the perimeter of the plant.
The IAEA update said: "The ZNPP told the IAEA team that the drone hit the roof of the training centre, without causing any casualties or major damage. It was not immediately known whether the drone had directly struck the building or whether it crashed on the structure after being shot down, the ZNPP said."
The IAEA team said they had asked to visit the training centre, as happened after a previous incident in April when a drone was shot down and crashed near the training centre, however permission had not been granted at the time the update was published, on Wednesday evening. Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been under Russian military control since March 2022 and lies close to the frontline of Russian and Ukrainian forces.
There have also been regular reports from Ukraine's three operating nuclear power plants of drones near the sites, and in February a drone damaged the giant protective shelter built over Chernobyl's unit 4 which was destroyed in the 1986 accident.
Director General Grossi said: "These reported drone incidents are very concerning, as they could pose a direct threat to nuclear safety and security. To put it simply: there are too many drones flying near nuclear sites, not just the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. It should stop immediately."
As with previous incidents during the war, the IAEA has not attributed blame to either side. Director General Grossi explained in a press conference at the United Nations in April last year that this was particularly the case with drones, saying "we are not commentators. We are not political speculators or analysts, we are an international agency of inspectors. And in order to say something like that, we must have proof, indisputable evidence, that an attack, or remnants of ammunition or any other weapon, is coming from a certain place. And in this case it is simply impossible".
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