The IAEA team based at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has been informed of a drone attack that damaged several vehicles near the site's cooling pond last week, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today.
Visiting near one of the areas of Friday's purported attack, the IAEA team yesterday observed burnt grass and other charred vegetation, which the plant said was caused by a drone that crashed and caused a fire there.
In the latest such report highlighting constant dangers to nuclear safety during the military conflict, the ZNPP said six drones had been involved in the incident.
According to the plant's information provided to the IAEA team, a group of personnel who were cleaning a nearby water reservoir at the time spotted the approaching drones and took cover, with no injuries. However, one of the drones hit the front of a truck and other vehicles were also damaged, the ZNPP said. Approximately one hour later, another drone crashed, causing the fire that burnt the vegetation, it added.
The incident occurred outside the site perimeter, around 600 metres from the nearest of the ZNPP's six reactors.
The IAEA team members were yesterday shown the truck that was reportedly struck, but they could not confirm any damage as they were too far away from the vehicle. They also could not see any drone remains at that distance.
"If this report is confirmed, it would represent a completely unacceptable attack in the proximity of a major nuclear power plant. Whoever is behind such attacks is playing with fire. It must stop immediately," Director General Grossi said.
It comes just a few weeks after the IAEA team at the ZNPP heard repeated rounds of gunfire that appeared to be aimed at drones reportedly attacking the site's training centre, also located just outside the site perimeter - on the opposite side to Friday's reported attack. The training centre has been targeted several times this year, according to the ZNPP.
In February, a drone severely damaged the New Safe Confinement (NSC) at the Chornobyl plant in northern Ukraine, built to prevent any radioactive release from the reactor unit 4 destroyed in the 1986 accident and to protect it from external hazards.
Ukraine's operating nuclear power plants (NPPs) - Khmelnytskyy, Rivne and South Ukraine - also regularly report of drones being detected near the respective sites.
"There are too many drones flying too close to Ukraine's nuclear power plants, potentially threatening nuclear safety. As we saw in February, they can cause major damage at these facilities. Once again, I call for maximum military restraint in the vicinity of nuclear facilities," Director General Grossi said.
