Fire out at key Ukraine nuclear plant as Russia seizes site

Ukrainian firefighters on Friday extinguished a blaze at Europe's biggest nuclear plant that was ignited by a Russian attack and no radiation was released, UN and Ukrainian officials said, as Russian forces pressed their campaign to cripple the country despite global condemnation.

The head of the United Nations' atomic agency said that a Russian "projectile" hit a training centre at the plant, which is located in the city of Enerhodar, in Ukraine's south.

The most recent statement from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is in touch with officials on the ground, said that Russia had taken control of the site — but that Ukrainian staff were still operating the plant. 

Ukraine's state nuclear regulator said earlier that no changes in radiation levels have been recorded so far after the Zaporizhzhia plant came under attack. IAEA director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi later said no radioactive material was released, but that two people were injured in the fire that broke out at the plant.

The attack caused worldwide concern — and evoked memories of the world's worst nuclear disaster, at Ukraine's Chornobyl.

The shelling of the plant came as the Russian military advanced on a strategic city on the Dnieper River near where the facility is located, and gained ground in their bid to cut Ukraine off from the sea. That move would deal a severe blow to Ukraine's economy and could worsen an already dire humanitarian situation.

Initial reports conflicted over whether one or two fires broke out at the plant. Nuclear plant spokesperson Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television overnight that shells fell directly on the facility, and set fire to reactor No. 1, which is under renovation and not operating, and to an administrative training building.

On Friday morning, officials only referenced a blaze at the training building when they said that all fires at the plant were out — which Grossi also confirmed. The regional military administration reported unspecified damage to the compartment of reactor No. 1, but said it does not affect the safety of the power unit.

Grossi said that only one reactor at the plant is operating, at about 60 per cent capacity.

The nuclear regulator said staff are studying the site to check for other damage.

In the statement, the IAEA said radiation monitoring systems at the site are "fully functional."

"However, the operator has reported that the situation remains very challenging and therefore it has not yet been possible to access the whole site to assess that all safety systems are fully functional."

The confusion itself underscored the dangers of active fighting near a nuclear power plant. It was the second time since the Russian invasion began just over a week ago that concerns about a nuclear accident or a release of radiation materialized, following a previous battle at Chornobyl.

The regulator noted in a statement on Facebook the importance of maintaining the ability to cool nuclear fuel, saying the loss of such ability could lead to an accident even worse than the 1986 Chornobyl disaster or the 2011 Fukushima meltdowns in Japan. It also noted that there is a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel at the site, though there was no sign that facility was hit by shelling.