The head of the UN nuclear agency has said he is pushing for access to the roof of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, following reports from Ukrainian officials that the Russians had planted explosives.
The plant was seized by Russia in March 2022 in the first weeks of the war in Ukraine, raising fears of a nuclear accident.
The Russians have only granted limited access to officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), citing the security situation.
Wrapping up a four-day visit to Japan, IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi said his agency was making progress on access to Zaporizhzhia, but there had been “some limitations”.
“It’s like a conversation and I’m pushing to get as much access as possible,” said Mr Grossi, adding that there was “marginal improvement”.
“I’m optimistic that we are going to be able to go up and see,” Mr Grossi said, referring to the rooftops.
The UN atomic watchdog has repeatedly cautioned over the possibility of a radiation catastrophe like the one at Chernobyl, in northern Ukraine, after a reactor exploded in 1986.
Citing the latest intelligence reports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky alleged on Tuesday night that Russian troops had placed “objects resembling explosives” on top of several power units to “simulate” an attack as part of a false flag operation.
Mr Grossi said the IAEA had made simulations to model the possible environmental impact in case of an explosion or bombing of the plant, although he declined to give details.
The “foreign objects” were placed on the roof of the plant’s third and fourth power units, the General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said in a statement.
The IAEA has officials stationed at the Russian-held plant, which is still run by its Ukrainian staff.
Regular power outages have made it impossible to operate the plant safely, and its six reactors have been shut down to minimise the threat of a disaster.
One expert said that even if explosive materials were found on the plant’s roofs, they were unlikely to cause extensive damage.
Patricia Lewis, research director of conflict, science and transformation at the London-based think tank Chatham House said: “These reactors are designed to withstand the type of implosions from a plane crash, and there is a belief that they would withstand shelling, for example.”
Mr Grossi told the Associated Press that the IAEA had gained access to additional parts of the site recently, including the cooling pond and fuel storage areas.
The Ukrainians had said the areas were mined by the Russians, but the IAEA was able to “confirm that they were not, which is important”.
On Wednesday, Mr Grossi said the most recent IAEA inspection of the Zaporizhzhia plant found no mining activities.
He was speaking after a visit to the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where equipment has been installed for the planned release of treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.
Mr Grossi was leaving Tokyo on Friday to head to South Korea, where he will provide an explanation of the safety of the Fukushima water release plan.
