IAEA board to hold meeting over Zaporizhzhia attacks
VIENNA, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Tuesday that it would hold an emergency meeting of its 35-nation Board of Governors on Thursday over recent attacks at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP).
The meeting, to be held at the agency's Vienna headquarters, is "convened by the Chair of the Board following two separate letters addressed to him by, in chronological order, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, requesting a meeting of the Board," the IAEA said in a note to media.
In a separate statement, the United Nations (UN) nuclear watchdog said it had been "informed" of the latest drone attack on the training center of the ZNPP on Tuesday, but said the incident "did not pose any threat to nuclear safety and security at the ZNPP."
The IAEA said its experts stationed at the plant "reported hearing bursts of rifle fire followed by a loud explosion" on Tuesday morning, "the same time that the ZNPP later said an incoming drone had detonated on the roof of the facility's training center."
The IAEA experts haven't been granted access to the training center building to assess the impact, as they were "informed that the military security situation did not allow it," according to the statement.
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said the incident on Tuesday is "an ominous development as it indicates an apparent readiness to continue these attacks, despite the grave dangers they pose to nuclear safety and security and our repeated calls for military restraint."
"Attacking a nuclear power plant is extremely irresponsible and dangerous, and it must stop," said Grossi.
The IAEA chief said he plans to brief the UN Security Council about the situation at the ZNPP next week.
Tuesday's attack on the ZNPP was the latest in a series of drone attacks on the facility in recent days. The attacks on the plant on Sunday caused damage to the building housing one of the plant's six reactors, but nuclear safety has not been compromised, the IAEA said in an earlier statement.
According to the agency, the recent attacks on the ZNPP marked the first time since November 2022 that the plant was "directly targeted in military action."
However, the IAEA has not said who was to blame for the attacks.
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of staging the attacks. Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the recent shelling on the ZNPP was "a very dangerous provocation" with negative consequences.
Ukraine has denied involvement in the drone attacks.
The ZNPP is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe with a total capacity of six gigawatts. At the end of February 2022, the facility was taken under Russian control. ■