Increased combat around Ukrainian nuclear plant, says official

Fighting has intensified near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, which is Europe’s largest, further increasing the possibility of a war-related nuclear accident, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on March 28.

Fighting has intensified near a nuclear power plant in Ukraine that is Europe’s largest, further increasing the possibility of a war-related nuclear accident, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on March 28.

“There is an increased level of combat, active combat” in the area of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi told The Associated Press in an interview. “My teams there report daily about the attacks, the sound of heavy weaponry. This is practically constant.”

Speaking a day before he was to cross the front lines for a second time to visit the plant, Mr. Grossi said he felt it was his duty to ramp up talks aimed at safeguarding the facility. He met on Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and said he would probably head to Russia in the coming days.

Mr. Grossi has long called for a protection zone to be set up around the plant, which is very near the front line of the war. But so far, an agreement has been elusive.

“It is a zone of extreme volatility. So the negotiations are, of course, affected by the ongoing military operations,” Mr. Grossi said. “I would not characterise the process for the last few months as one that has not led to any progress.”

The U.N.'s atomic energy watchdog, which is based in Vienna, Austria, has a rotating team permanently based at the plant. The power station's six reactors are in shutdown and the plant has received the electricity it needs to prevent a reactor meltdown through one remaining functioning power line.

Plant personnel have had to switch to emergency diesel generators several times during the 13-month war to power essential cooling systems.