KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom said on Sunday that a worker was wounded when Russian forces again shelled the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, on Saturday evening.
The site of the plant’s dry storage facility, where 174 containers with spent nuclear fuel are stored in the open air, was hit by rocket attacks, Energoatom said on the Telegram messaging app.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had raised grave concerns on Saturday about shelling the previous day at Zaporizhzhia, saying the action showed the risk of a nuclear disaster.
The Zaporizhzhia plant was captured by Russian forces in the opening stage of the war but is still run by Ukrainian technicians.
Shells hit a high-voltage power line on Friday at the nuclear facility, prompting its operators to disconnect a reactor despite no radioactive leak being detected.
Both sides accused each other on Saturday of engaging in “nuclear terrorism”. Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom blamed Russia for the damage while Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the plant.
(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Frances Kerry)
