A team of U.N. inspectors reached the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine to assess its safety in a risky, high-stakes mission. The plant, Europe’s largest, lies in an intensifying combat zone and has been repeatedly struck by shelling.
Hours before the group arrived, Russian mortar shells struck the plant, said Energoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear power company. The shelling forced the plant to deploy emergency backup responses, prompting the shutdown of one reactor and the activation of backup generators at another. The extent of damage from the strikes was not immediately clear. There were no reports of heightened radiation levels around the plant.
It remained unclear how much time the experts would have to verify the safe operation of the nuclear plant. The Kremlin-appointed chief of the Zaporizhzhia region said the visit was expected to last only one day.
A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency said the team intended to present its findings by the end of the week.