Extract from ABC News
Ukraine has accused Russia of "preparing a terrorist act" at Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
Key points:
- Ukraine's nuclear energy operator has accused Russia of "preparing a terrorist act" at Zaporizhzhia Power Plant
- In recent days, Russia has made an unsubstantiated allegation Ukraine is planning a dirty bomb
- A dirty bomb uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste
On Tuesday Ukraine's nuclear energy operator said Russian forces had carried out secret construction work at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Energoatom, which runs Ukraine's four nuclear power plants, said Russian officers controlling the area had refused to let in Ukrainian staff or UN monitors.
The company said it "assumes … [the Russians] are preparing a terrorist act using nuclear materials and radioactive waste stored at [the plant]".
It said there were 174 containers at the plant's dry spent fuel storage facility, each of them containing 24 assemblies of spent nuclear fuel.
"Destruction of these containers as a result of explosion will lead to a radiation accident and radiation contamination of several hundred square kilometres [miles] of the adjacent territory," the company said.
It called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to investigate.
Just days before, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu made an unsubstantiated allegation Ukraine was preparing to launch a dirty bomb, which uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste.
The claim, made over the weekend, has been rejected by Britain, France, and the United States, who said it was "transparently false".
Ukraine said it was an attempt by Moscow to distract from the Kremlin's own alleged plans to detonate a dirty bomb.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Western nations' dismissal of Moscow's unsubstantiated dirty bomb allegation was "unacceptable in view of the seriousness of the danger that we have talked about".
He added: "We again emphasise the grave danger posed by the plans hatched by the Ukrainians."
On Monday the White House said the Kremlin's claim was "just not true".
"In the past, the Russians have, on occasion, blamed others for things that they were planning to do" John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said.
Dirty bombs do not have the devastating destruction of a nuclear explosion but could expose broad areas to radioactive contamination.
AP
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