Experts to visit Ukraine nuclear plant as new shelling raises radiation fears

The UN nuclear watchdog’s long-awaited expert mission to the Zaporizhzhia power plant in Uk’ (Planet Labs PBC/AP)

The UN nuclear watchdog has injected a ray of hope into the stand-off over the Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant at the heart of fighting in Ukraine by announcing on Monday that its mission of top experts “is now on its way” to the facility even as renewed shelling in the area raised fears of a catastrophe.

International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi has for months sought access to the plant, Europe’s biggest, which has been occupied by Russian forces and run by Ukrainian workers since the early days of the six-month-old war.