KYIV, Ukraine—United Nations atomic-energy inspectors are heading to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant amid fears that fighting in the area has damaged power lines and caused fires at the facility that could lead to nuclear catastrophe.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday that a team led by its director general, Rafael Grossi, was heading to the plant to assess damage, check safety and security systems and evaluate staff conditions. The inspection will begin on Wednesday and last until Saturday, according to an internal Ukrainian government document seen by The Wall Street Journal.
Renewed shelling around the plant hit buildings some 100 yards from the reactor complex and damaged water pipelines that have now been repaired, the IAEA said, noting that it didn’t know the full extent of the damage.
Russian forces have occupied the plant, Europe’s largest, and stationed military equipment there, while Ukrainian workers continue to operate it at gunpoint, according to Ukrainian officials.
The trip is the IAEA’s most important visit since Chernobyl in 1986, after the catastrophic accident that spewed radioactive dust across Europe, said Morgan D. Libby, a former IAEA official. “Everything else pales in comparison,” he said.
Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear-power company, said Thursday that Zaporizhzhia’s reactors had for the first time been completely disconnected from their regular Ukrainian grid power lines because of a fire that the company blamed on Russian shelling. Russia said Ukraine is to blame.
Two power units at the plant, which were reconnected to the grid last week after being shut down, are producing electricity for Ukraine’s needs, Energoatom said Monday. The plant produced one-fifth of Ukraine’s electricity before the war. Ukrainian officials say they believe Russia aims to steal its power by severing its connection with Ukrainian-held territory. Russia has denied this.