IAEA team sets off towards Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

KYIV, Aug 31 (Reuters) – An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team set off from the Ukrainian capital towards the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Wednesday to inspect for damage after shelling near the facility has raised fears of a radiation disaster.

Russian forces captured the plant soon after they launched their Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine and it is close to front lines. Russia and Ukraine have traded accusations of firing shells that have endangered the plant.

A Reuters witness said the IAEA team set off from Kyiv in a convoy of vehicles. The mission is being led by the IAEA chief Rafael Grossi.

It was not clear when the IAEA team would reach Europe’s biggest nuclear plant and when it would conduct its inspection.

The United States has urged a complete shutdown of the plant and called for a demilitarised zone around it.

The Interfax news agency quoted a Russian-appointed Zaporizhzhia government official as saying on Wednesday that two of the plant’s six reactors were running.

Yevgeny Balitsky, the head of the Russian-installed administration, told Interfax that the IAEA inspectors “must see the work of the station in one day”.

Ukraine on Tuesday accused Russia of shelling a corridor that IAEA officials would need to use to reach the plant in an effort to get them to travel via Russian-annexed Crimea instead. There was no immediate response from Russia.

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Robert Birsel)