IAEA reports drone damage to nuclear emergency response infrastructure near Zaporizhzhya plant
The International Atomic Energy Agency said nuclear emergency response infrastructure near the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant was damaged in a drone attack over the past week. IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the incident showed the continuing risks to nuclear safety and security amid ongoing military activities.
The agency said the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant informed the IAEA team on 3 May that a drone attack had occurred at the External Radiation Control Laboratory. The laboratory is situated approximately four kilometres from the plant perimeter.
The IAEA said its team visited the facility the next day and observed damage to meteorological equipment used to collect real-time environmental parameters in the event of a nuclear or radiological emergency. The IAEA said the equipment is currently not operable.
Grossi said the damage was an example of harm to nuclear emergency response equipment as a direct result of military activities. He called on both sides to make all efforts to avoid military activities in the vicinity of nuclear facilities, wherever they are located.
The agency also said that one of more than 20 drones detected over Enerhodar on 5 May reportedly impacted the building housing the Zaporizhzhya plant's off-site emergency centre. The reported impact caused broken windows.
No damage to the emergency centre itself was reported. Over the weekend, the IAEA team at the plant was further informed of reported drone attacks on the local Raduga electrical substation in the early morning hours of 1 and 2 May.
According to the information provided to the team, those attacks caused power and water outages in Enerhodar, where most Zaporizhzhya plant staff live. The IAEA said the Zaporizhzhya plant continues to rely on a single off-site power line, the 330 kV Ferosplavna-1 backup line.
The plant's main 750 kV Dniprovska power line has been disconnected since 24 March 2026. The agency said it continues to engage with the Russian Federation and Ukraine in negotiations aimed at establishing a temporary localized ceasefire to allow repairs to off-site power infrastructure.
The agency said that at the Khmelnytskyy Nuclear Power Plant, its team had to shelter on-site for several hours on 1 May following an air raid alert. The plant said three drones were detected approximately six kilometres from the site that day.
At the Chornobyl site, the IAEA team was informed on 4 May that five drones were detected overnight within the site's monitoring zone, with one additional drone detected overnight on 1 May. The IAEA said it has been conducting a mission to Ukrainian electrical substations that are critical to nuclear safety.
The team is visiting 14 substations to observe damage caused by recent attacks and ongoing efforts to restore and maintain the operability of key components needed for a stable electricity supply to Ukraine's nuclear power plants. The mission is the agency's seventh such mission since September 2024.
During the mission, the IAEA team met with Ukraine's grid operator, Ukrenergo, and the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine to discuss the status of the substations and the implications for nuclear safety. The agency said it remains present at all of Ukraine's nuclear power plants and at the Chornobyl site to monitor nuclear safety and security.
The IAEA also said it completed a medical assistance mission to Ukraine last week. That mission included visits to the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant and South Ukraine Hospital, meetings with the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate and Energoatom, and attendance at a scientific conference marking the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl accident.
Separately, the agency said pallet trucks and a mobile workshop crane were delivered to the National Scientific Center Institute of Metrology under its assistance programme with financial support from Japan.
