Drone hits external radiation lab at Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant; IAEA seeks access
A drone struck the External Radiation Control Laboratory at the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on 3 May, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. The lab sits outside the plant's perimeter; the IAEA reported no injuries and has requested access to assess possible damage. The strike follows a 27 April drone attack near the plant that killed a vehicle driver and triggered the facility's 15th loss of external power since the full-scale war began.
A drone struck the External Radiation Control Laboratory at the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on 3 May, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. The laboratory sits outside the plant's perimeter and the IAEA has requested access to assess any damage. "IAEA has been informed by the ZNPP that a drone targeted its External Radiation Control Laboratory (ECRL) today. There were no reported injuries and it is not yet known if the strike damaged the lab, which is located outside the ZNPP perimeter," the agency said. The IAEA stressed that any attack near nuclear facilities poses potential risks to nuclear safety.
The strike is the latest in a run of safety incidents at the plant. A 27 April drone attack killed the driver of a vehicle near the facility and triggered ZNPP's 15th loss of external power supply since the full-scale war began. The plant lost external power again on 30 April, prompting another set of IAEA warnings about nuclear-safety risk. Source records earlier in April counted the thirteenth external-power loss on 14 April.
The IAEA has separately deployed another mission to Ukraine to assess the condition of the electrical substations that support the country's nuclear power plant operations.