The International Atomic Energy Agency is offering the United Arab Emirates technical as well as moral support, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said yesterday after a visit to the site of a nuclear power plant that came under a drone attack last month.
Grossi said Emirati authorities had reacted very quickly to the attack at the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant by shutting down a reactor because of the loss of external power. The plant, the Arab world's first commercial nuclear power station, came under a drone attack last month that the Gulf country said was launched from Iraq.
The drone that penetrated the UAE's defences hit an electric generator outside the inner perimeter of the plant, according to Emirati officials. It was one of three drones that were targeting the plant and only two were intercepted, according to the UAE's defence ministry. The IAEA chief said a number of activities would take place to complete repairs at the plant. He told Reuters that it could be a "matter of weeks" for the repairs to be completed. Grossi said there was a need for physical repair and also maintenance to an external power line. "The repairs are under way already," he said.
After that drone strike, the UAE's Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation said the plant remained safe and that no radioactive material had been released due to the attack. While hostilities have mostly calmed since a ceasefire came into effect in April, drones have been launched from Iraq towards Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Iraq is home to powerful militia groups that have claimed attacks against "enemy bases in Iraq and the region" during the US-Israeli war on Iran