IAEA reports new risks to nuclear safety in Ukraine

The International Atomic Energy Agency announced increased military activity near all Ukrainian nuclear power plants, as well as the occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP.

This was reported by the IAEA.

Over the past two weeks, the agency’s mission at the Zaporizhzhia NPP has received reports of continued active hostilities in the area of the plant. In particular, on May 30, a drone hit the turbine hall of the sixth power unit.

During further inspection, experts found a hole in the wall and local damage to the metal lining of an empty pipe near the impact site. Experts continue to assess the consequences of the incident.

“This is the first time since April 2024 that military activity has directly impacted the Zheleznodorozhny NPP site,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.

In addition, on June 7, a drone hit a centralized storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. The facility is located a few hundred meters from the storage site for spent fuel containers. However, radiation levels remained within normal limits.

“An attack on a facility with large amounts of nuclear material is extremely dangerous. This should not happen,” Grossi stressed.

The IAEA also reported military activity near the Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, and South Ukraine nuclear power plants. Over the past two weeks, the agency’s teams have recorded more than 100 drones within surveillance zones around nuclear facilities. Some of them approached within two kilometers.

At the Rivne NPP, IAEA staff were forced to take cover on June 3 due to the threat of drone attacks. At the Chernobyl site, they also repeatedly heard drones being fired at.

The situation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP is of particular concern. IAEA experts are currently monitoring the demining and repair work on the last main power transmission line, Dniprovska, which remains critically important for powering the plant.

According to the agency, in the past two weeks alone, the ZNPP has lost external power supply three times. The last outage occurred on June 5 and lasted 15 hours. In total, this is the 18th case of complete loss of external power to the plant since the start of the full-scale war.

As a reminder, on the night of June 7 , a Russian drone attacked the site of the Centralized Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility . The impact damaged the container reception building, but the radiation background remains within normal limits.