The war in Ukraine is joined by fear of a nuclear incident

To the destruction and violence of the war in Ukraine is now added the fear of a nuclear accident caused by military clashes, such as the one that happened last night at the Zaporizhia plant, in the southeast of the country, an incident that according to the UN atomic agency It was due to a Russian shell.

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, criticized this Friday that the safety of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe has been compromised, although he clarified that “Fortunately” There were no radioactive releases.

“Physical security has been compromised with what happened last night, we’re lucky there was no radiation release”, confirmed the Argentine diplomat at a press conference in Vienna.

He assured that what happened in Zaporizhia “unprecedented” at the diplomatic level, which makes it difficult to respond to this situation.

For this reason, the head of the IAEA offered to travel personally “as soon as possible” to Ukraine to negotiate with the warring parties a “framework agreement” to avoid incidents like last night.

In Europe’s second largest country, which Russia invaded on February 24, there are four nuclear power plants, with 15 reactors, that generate much of Ukraine’s electricity.

In addition, there is the old Chernobyl atomic plant, where in 1986 the greatest nuclear disaster in history occurred.

Grossi recalled today that the international community has committed to the inviolability of nuclear facilities and their technical personnel in the event of a conflict.

Last night there was a Russian attack on the Zaporizhia plant, where a building located a few hundred meters from the six reactors caught fire, which was put out by firefighters at 06:20 a.m. (04:20 GMT), after several hours. of uncertainty.

“The integrity of the reactors has not been compromised, but that of the plant in its broadest sense has”, Grossi stressed and warned of the risks if the fighting continues near nuclear power plants.

According to IAEA information, the projectile that hit Zaporizhia came from Russian forces.

Grossi explained that of the plant’s six reactors, there is only one that is operating at 60% power, while the rest are either turned off or are operating in a controlled manner with low power.

Likewise, two people were injured in the incident, although they are not technical personnel who operate the plant, but rather security personnel.

Although the Zaporizhia plant and the Chernobyl plant are under the control of Russian forces, Grossi said, both facilities are managed by Ukrainian technical personnel.

However, the head of the UN nuclear agency stressed that the situation is very “unstable and fragile” and that he is in contact with the Ukrainian nuclear authorities to follow developments.

To avoid similar incidents around other nuclear facilities, Grossi intends to travel to Chernobyl to meet there with officials from both parties and draw up a framework agreement.

“i’m ready to go”, said the director general, noting that the Ukrainian authorities asked him this week “immediate assistance” to secure the country’s atomic facilities.

It is time to take action to avoid any additional danger, Grossi said.

“If we are going to offer assistance, we must be there, and the first to go must be the director of the IAEA”, said the general director, who affirmed that organizing this appointment in Chernobyl is “more effective in diplomatic terms.

“We have now seen that due to the impact of a projectile a situation occurred last night that could have been dramatic. I think we shouldn’t wait for something like this to happen before trying to remedy it more efficiently.Grossi concluded.

While NATO and the governments of Ukraine and other countries vehemently condemned what happened in Zaporizhia, Moscow spoke of a “provocation” and a “crime plan“perpetrated by assumptions”Ukrainian saboteurs” to accuse Russia of being responsible for a radioactive leak.