Ukraine issues new dirty bomb warning as Zaporizhzhia nuclear disaster fears grow
Ukraine has warned that Russia plans to use nuclear material from the occupied Zaporizhzhia power plant to launch a "dirty bomb" that could contaminate hundreds of square miles.
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Ukrainian officials have renewed warnings of an incoming dirty bomb threat from Russia. Energoatom, the country's nuclear energy watchdog, warned that Russian forces have laid the groundwork for a terrorist attack at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The firm said such an attack could contaminate hundreds of miles of territory with nuclear material.
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Officials claimed that occupying Russians have carried out construction work at the plant in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
They alleged that invading Russians have access to the plant's nuclear materials, stored in 174 containers at dry spent fuel storage facilities.
Each container holds 24 assemblies of spent nuclear fuel that could, if detonated, cause a "radiation accident".
In a statement, the company said that destroying the containers "as a result of explosion" would lead to "a radiation accident and radiation contamination of several hundred square kilometres (miles) of the adjacent territory".
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But they have no means of confirming whether Russia is constructing a dirty bomb, as officials state that staff have been denied access to UN monitoring equipment.
Energoatom has called on the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to assess the situation at Zaporizhzhia.
Russia and Ukraine have fought over the Zaporizhzhia plant, the largest of its kind in Europe, for months.
A column of military vehicles first approached the building on March 3, and they met Ukrainian soldiers in battle on March 4.
Heavy fighting in the area led to fears of a possible nuclear incident, and officials from the IAEA visited to assess the situation in September.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi concluded on September 17 that, while the plant's "power status" has improved, the building is in a risky location.
Mr Grossi said the plant's place "in the middle of a war zone", leaves the situation "precarious".
He added that while there was no shelling in the immediate vicinity, explosions continue to rock "the wider area".
The "dirty bomb" warning is the second to come from the Ukrainian battleground this week.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu kicked off the week with an unsubstantiated claim that Ukraine is planning to detonate one of its own.
French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu said that, during a phone call, Shoigu said the situation in Ukraine was “rapidly deteriorating”.
Shoigu then reportedly said he had "concerns about possible provocations by Ukraine with the use of a ‘dirty bomb’”.
Russian officials have failed to back up the claims with additional detail or evidence.
Western nations and Ukraine's Government have since called out Putin's Government, rejecting the claims.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that if Russia "calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something" it means Moscow has "already prepared all this”.
He added: “I believe that now the world should react in the toughest possible way."
