May 4 (Reuters) – The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday meteorological monitoring equipment at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine had been damaged by a drone.
The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest with six reactors, was seized by Russian forces in the early weeks of Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Each side has since regularly accused the other of military action which could compromise safety at the plant, located near the war’s front line.
Posting on X, the IAEA said a team of its experts had visited the station’s External Radiation Control Laboratory (ERCL), a day after the plant’s Russian management said it had been hit by a drone.
“Team observed damage to some of the lab’s meteorological monitoring equipment which is no longer operational,” the IAEA, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, said in its statement.
The statement said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi had issued a fresh appeal “for maximum military restraint near all nuclear facilities to avoid safety risks”.
The plant, which now produces no electricity, has been struck several times by drones since the beginning of the conflict. The plant’s management on Sunday said damage has been minor and that operations were otherwise unaffected.
One of the station’s external power lines – required to keep nuclear fuel cool – has been down since late March and the IAEA said last week it was trying to arrange a local ceasefire to carry out repair work.
Grossi has paid several visits to the Zaporizhzhia plant since it came under Russian control and the IAEA has placed observers permanently at Zaporizhzhia and Ukraine’s three other functioning nuclear stations.
(Reporting by Abu Sultan in Bengaluru; Editing by Nia Williams, Ron Popeski and Christopher Cushing)
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