The U.N. atomic watchdog agency said it found evidence that Russian forces occupying Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant placed explosive mines nearby.
The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency said its inspectors found the directional anti-personnel mines in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers that faced away from the plant. Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of plans to sabotage Europe's biggest nuclear plant.
“The IAEA has been aware of the previous placement of mines outside the site perimeter and also at particular places inside," Rafael Mariano Grossi said on Monday.
"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 military,” he said. “But having such explosives on the site is inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance and creates additional psychological pressure on plant staff."
IAEA said in late June that it was aware of reports that mines and other explosives were placed in and around the plant. In the wake of Russia's war against Ukraine, the Russian-occupied plant is a major concern.
Grossi, however, said the IAEA’s initial assessment is that any detonation of the mines should not affect the site’s nuclear safety and security systems.
Its six reactors have been shut down since September, but the Ukrainian plant still needs energy for its cooling systems and has faced frequent power disruptions amid nearby fighting and shelling.
Shelling around the plant and the destruction of the Kakhovka major dam and hydroelectric power station along the Dnieper River put the plant's cooling system in severe jeopardy.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia blew up the dam and caused widespread flooding from the depletion of a huge reservoir in what is “the largest man-made environmental disaster in Europe in decades." Russia blamed it on Ukraine's military.
IAEA experts reported that the anti-personnel mines were put in a restricted area that operating plant personnel cannot access.
They did not see any heavy military equipment but still lack access to the roofs of the ZNPP’s reactors and their turbine halls, including two units that are of particular interest.
Since the destruction of the dam and depletion of the reservoir near the plant, the IAEA team says there still is sufficient cooling water available for some months.
