Article Author:
Reuters
ZURICH — The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Saturday expressed serious concern over the previous day's shelling of Ukraine's Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, saying the actions demonstrated the danger of a nuclear disaster. .
“We are very concerned about the shelling of Europe's largest nuclear power plant yesterday. underscores the risks," Rafael's secretary-general, Mariano Grossi, said in a statement.
Mr. Grossi, head of the United Nations Nuclear Observatory, urged all parties to the Ukraine conflict to exercise "maximum restraint" around nuclear power plants.
A shell struck the plant's high-voltage power lines on Friday, prompting operators to disconnect the reactor even though no radioactive leak was detected. The factory was occupied by Russian forces in early March, during the early stages of the war, but is still run by Ukrainian engineers.
Ukraine's state-owned nuclear power company, Energoatom, has blamed Russia for the damage to its power plant. The Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the power plant and said the radiation leak was avoided only by luck.
Grossi said any military action that endangered the safety and security of the Zaporizhia plant was "totally unacceptable and must be avoided at all costs."
"Military fire directed at or away from a facility amounts to playing with fire, and can have devastating consequences."
(Francis Kelly (Reported by John Reville, ed.)
