
The International Atomic Energy Agency team based at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant reports hearing frequent explosions from outside the site during the week of 16 January, following a spate of similar attacks during recent weeks and further underlining persistent dangers to nuclear safety and security during the military conflict, IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi reported on 16 January during the Agency’s Ukraine Update 271.
The team reported hearing multiple instances of such military activity in recent days, at varying distances from the ZNPP. There was no damage reported to the plant itself. Although the sound of nearby military action has been a common occurrence ever since the IAEA established a continued presence at the ZNPP in September 2022, it has been a more or less daily occurrence in recent weeks.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, air raid alarms were heard on several occasions at Ukraine’s three operating nuclear power plants – Khmelnytskyy, Rivne and South Ukraine – as well as at the Chornobyl site. At Khmelnytskyy, the IAEA team members have taken shelter at their residence three times in recent days due to such alerts.
At the Khmelnytskyy and South Ukraine NPPs and the Chornobyl site, the IAEA teams were informed of instances of drones being detected at distances ranging from 2 to 30 km from the sites.
Despite this military activity, Ukraine’s nine operating nuclear reactors have been operating at full capacity in recent weeks.