"Powerful explosions shook the area of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) yesterday evening and again this morning, abruptly ending a period of relative calm at the facility and further underlining the urgent need for measures to help prevent a nuclear accident there," the global nuclear watchdog said on Sunday.
It cited its Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi as saying that more than a dozen blasts were heard within a short period of time on Sunday morning local time in what appeared to be renewed shelling "both close to and at the site" of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
IAEA experts reported that there had been damage to some buildings, systems and equipment at the site, but none of them so far critical for nuclear safety and security, according to the iaea.org website.
There were no reports of casualties.
“The news from our team yesterday and this morning is extremely disturbing," the agency's Grossi said. "Explosions occurred at the site of this major nuclear power plant, which is completely unacceptable."
Grossi added: "Whoever is behind this, it must stop immediately. As I have said many times before, you’re playing with fire!”
He renewed his urgent appeal to both sides in the conflict to agree and implement a nuclear safety and security zone around the plant as soon as possible, the agency said.
In recent months, Grossi has engaged in intense consultations with Ukraine and Russia about establishing such a zone, but so far without an agreement, the iaea.org website said.
IAEA experts are "in close contact with site management" and "will continue to assess and report on the situation," the agency also said.
The IAEA is an autonomous international organization within the United Nations system that aims to coordinate “all activities related to the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology,” according to the Polish foreign ministry.
The organization was established in 1957, with Poland as one of its founding members.
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Source: PAP, iaea.org