UN agency to inspect Ukraine nuclear plant in urgent mission

Ukraine and Russia again accused each other of shelling the wider region around the nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, which was briefly knocked offline last week

A U.N. nuclear watchdog team set off on an urgent mission Monday to safeguard the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant at the heart of fighting in Ukraine, a long-awaited trip the world hopes will help avoid a radioactive catastrophe.

The stakes couldn't be higher for the group of International Atomic Energy Agency experts who will visit the plant in a country where the 1986 Chernobyl disaster sent radiation throughout the region, shocked the world and intensified a global push away from nuclear energy.

“Without an exaggeration, this mission will be the hardest in the history of IAEA," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

Underscoring the urgency, Ukraine and Russia again accused each other of shelling the wider region around the nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, which was briefly knocked offline last week. The dangers are so high that officials have begun handing out anti-radiation iodine tablets to nearby residents.

To avoid a disaster, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi has sought access for months to the Zaporizhzhia plant, which Russian forces have occupied and Ukrainian workers have operated since the early days of the six-month-old war.

“The day has come,” Mr. Grossi tweeted Monday, adding that the Vienna-based IAEA’s “Support and Assistance Mission ... is now on its way.” It is slated to arrive later this week.

The IAEA said in a statement that its team will “undertake urgent safeguards activities,” assess damage, determine the functionality of the plant's safety and security systems, and evaluate the working conditions of the control room staff.