IAEA discovers mines near Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant

IAEA discovers mines near Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant
by Paul Godfrey
Washington DC (UPI) Jul 25, 2023

International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have spotted mines near the perimeter of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant and warned their presence at the Russian-controlled facility breaches safety standards and nuclear security guidelines.

The anti-personnel mines were seen during a walkaround of the site in a restricted area between the internal and external fences -- but facing away from the plant and inaccessible to staff working at the power station, the IAEA said in a news release issued Monday.

Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the IAEA knew about mines in and around the plant, but it was the first time inspection teams had observed them in this specific location.

"Our team has raised this specific finding with the plant and they have been told that it is a military decision and in an area controlled by the military," Grossi said.

"But having such explosives on the site is inconsistent with IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance and creates additional psychological pressure on plant staff -- even if the IAEA's initial assessment based on its own observations and the plant's clarifications is that any detonation of these mines should not affect the site's nuclear safety and security systems.

"The team will continue its interactions with the plant," he added.

The latest report comes after the IAEA team heard several explosions some distance away from the plant Saturday evening.

IAEA said its experts had carried out inspections and regular walk-downs across the site, without seeing any heavy military equipment but, despite repeated requests, had yet to gain access to roofs of the reactors and their turbine halls, including units 3 and 4 which are of particular interest.

On Tuesday, IAEA experts visited the main control room of reactor no. 6, emergency control room, rooms housing electrical cabinets of the safety systems and parts of the turbine hall. While the team was not able to visit all areas in the turbine hall, they did not observe any mines or explosives, IAEA said.

The agency said it was concerned about an incident over the weekend in which the plant had to fall back on a single 330-kilovolt backup line for eight hours after losing its connection to the main incoming 750 kV power line saying it "highlighted the site's fragile external power situation during the military conflict."

While Zaporizhzhya's six reactors were placed into "cold" shutdown in September, the watchdog stressed that the plant still needed reliable power for "reactor cooling and other essential nuclear safety and security functions."

Ukraine officials, who have been warning the international community about the risks presented by laying mines at the plant, told Politico they had been cut off from accessing the plant's safety monitoring systems.

"It might blow up any moment; we just don't know when. Russians have completely cut us off the safety monitoring systems," Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said. "We trust our military intelligence and IAEA experts on the ground. But we have no control over the station and that is alarming."

Inspectors have been trying to gain access to the rooftops of reactor units 3 and 4 to confirm that no mines or other explosives are planted inside the plant but found no evidence of mines or other explosives during a July 7 search of the rest of the facility.