UN nuclear watchdog warns conditions 'very fragile' at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia power plant

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog on Tuesday described the situation at Europe's largest nuclear power plant as “very fragile” following fresh attacks near the site in central Ukraine, and vowed to expand the agency's inspections to include critical electricity supplies.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was making his 10th visit to Ukraine since the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022.

He was headed to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant after talks in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and top energy officials.

“I think the situation – I have very often characterized it – as very fragile,” Grossi told reporters in the Ukrainian capital. “The station is again on the verge of being on a blackout. We've had eight of those in the past. A blackout (means) no power: no power, no cooling. No cooling, then maybe you have a disaster.”

Earlier, Grossi posted on X that he was on his way to Zaporizhzhia to “help prevent a nuclear accident.”

The Zaporizhzhia plant, which came under Russian control in the wake of its full-scale invasion, saw artillery shelling in the area on Monday that damaged the facility’s power access, according to its operator Energoatom, which blamed Russia for the attacks.

“Russian shelling damaged one of the two external overhead lines through which … the Zaporizhzhya NPP receives power from the Ukrainian power system,” the operator said in a post on Telegram. “In the event of damage to the second line, an emergency situation will arise,” the Ukrainian agency said, adding that technicians couldn't access the site of the damage because of the “real threat of repeated shelling.”

Analysts say an explosion at the Zaporizhzhia plant would produce radiation and likely trigger panic, but the radiation risk beyond the immediate blast area would be relatively low and nothing like the scale of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Also, if the wind is in an easterly direction, radiation could be pushed toward Russia.

The Zaporizhzhia region is one of four — along with Donetsk, Kherson and Luhansk — in southern and eastern Ukraine that Russia partly, and illegally, annexed in September 2022, seven months after it invaded its neighbor.

The Vienna-based IAEA says ongoing attacks in the Zaporizhzhia area, as well as damage to Ukraine's grid, pose threats to the power supply that's vital to the country's nuclear power stations. The watchdog said its staff at Zaporizhzhia recently had to shelter indoors because of reported drone threats in the area.

Other than Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine has three active nuclear plants.

__

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, speaks to the media in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, speaks to the media in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, speaks to the media in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, speaks to the media in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, shakes hands with Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Rescue workers extinguish a fire of a burning electrical substation hit by a Russian bombing in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A Ukrainian firefighter talks on the radio while he works to extinguish the fire on the site of an electrical substation that was hit by Russian strike in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, right, and Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko greet each other in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Derek Gatopoulos)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, right, and Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko shake hands in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Derek Gatopoulos)

PRAGUE (AP) — Another night of torrential rains pounding Central Europe forced massive evacuations in the hardest hit areas in the Czech Republic, where floods reached extreme levels on Sunday.

Meteorologists have warned the situation still might get worse as waters in most rivers are rising, the flood wave made its way through the country and more heavy rains could return overnight.

Authorities declared the highest flood warnings in almost 90 places across the country and in two northeastern regions that recorded the biggest rainfall in recent days, including the Jeseniky mountains near the Polish border.

In the city of Opava, up to 10,000 people out of a population of some 56,000 have been asked to leave their homes for higher ground. Rescuers used boats to transport people to safety in a neighborhood flooded by the raging Opava River.

“There’s no reason to wait,” Mayor Tomáš Navrátil told the Czech public radio. He said the situation was worse than during the last devastating floods in 1997, known as the “flood of the century.”

“We have to focus on saving lives,” Prime Minister Petr Fiala told the Czech public television Sunday. His government was to possibly meet Monday to assess the damages.

Thousands of others also were evacuated in the towns of Krnov and Cesky Tesin. The Oder River that flows to Poland was expected to reach extreme levels in the city of Ostrava and later in Bohumin.

Towns and villages in the Jeseniky mountains, including the local center of Jesenik, were inundated and isolated by raging waters that turned roads into rivers. The military sent a helicopter to help with evacuations.

Four people who were swept away by waters were missing, police said.

About 260,000 households were without power Sunday morning in the entire country while traffic was halted on many roads, including the major D1 highway.

A firefighter died after “slipping on stairs” while pumping out a flooded basement in the town of Tulln, the head of the fire department of Lower Austria Dietmar Fahrafellner told reporters on Sunday.

Authorities declared the entire state of Lower Austria a disaster zone. The situation remains tense, especially at the water reservoir of Ottenstein, which is expected to reach its maximum capacity on Sunday.

Romanian authorities said Sunday that another person had died in the hard-hit eastern county of Galati after four were reported dead there a day before following unprecedented rain.

In Poland, one person was presumed dead in floods in the southwest, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday.

Tusk said the situation was “dramatic” around the town of Klodzko, with some 25,000 residents, located in a valley in the Sudetes mountains near the border with the Czech Republic.

In Glucholazy, rising waters overflowed a river embankment and flooded streets and houses. Mayor Paweł Szymkowicz said, “we are drowning” and appealed to residents to evacuate to high ground.

Energy supplies and communications were cut off in some flooded areas and regions may resort to using the satellite-based Starlink service, Tusk said.

Several Central European nations have been hit by severe flooding, including Romania, Austria, Germany, Slovakia and Hungary, as a result of a low-pressure system from northern Italy dumping heavy rainfall in the wide region.

The weather change arrived following a hot start to September in the region. Scientists have documented Earth’s hottest summer, breaking a record set just a year ago.

A hotter atmosphere, driven by human-caused climate change, can lead to more intense rainfall.

Associated Press writer Monika Scislowska in Warsaw, Poland, video journalist Philipp-Moritz Jenne in Vienna and Stephen McGrath in Bucharest, Romania, contributed to this report.

A fireman walks to a house through a flooded street in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Flooded houses in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Flooded houses in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A resident carries sandbags to protect his house during floods Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A group of people stand next to a flooded street in Opava, Czech Republic, Sunday Sept. 15, 2024. (Jaroslav Ozana/CTK via AP)

A firefighter wades through flooded streets in Opava, Czech Republic, Sunday Sept. 15, 2024. (Jaroslav Ozana/CTK via AP)

A dog runs through mud during floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Residents watch the river during floods Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

An army helicopter flies over the flooded Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A man wades through flood water in Opava, Czech Republic, Sunday Sept. 15, 2024. (Jaroslav Ozana/CTK via AP)

Residents cross a bridge during floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A resident looks at the flooded city center of Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A resident looks at the flooded city center of Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A dog stands near the flooded city center of Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

The flooded city center of Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A resident carries bottles of water during floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Residents cross a bridge during floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Firemen help a resident during floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A resident looks at the flooded streets of Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Cars submerge in flood water in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A flooded house in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Residents fill sand bags to protect their houses during floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

The Bela River flows past a church during floods in Mikulovice, Czech Republic, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Firemen attend to a house during floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Firemen drive through flooded streets of Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Firemen help residents during floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Flooded streets and houses in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)