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An artillery shell hitting a containment with spent fuel at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant could lead to a "dirty bomb" effect, Mikhail Chudakov, deputy head of the IAEA and head of the nuclear energy department, told RIA Novosti.

If there is spent fuel at the site, which is in dry storage in concrete containers, it is enough for an artillery shell to hit it - and a "dirty bomb" will result. There's no need to look for bombs in the form of a bomb, Chudakov told the agency's correspondent on the sidelines of the Atomexpo forum in Sochi.

The containment (a sealed shell, a passive safety system of power nuclear reactors), which is a three-meter concrete wall, is not resistant to an artillery strike, he noted.

"I saw a hole two meters in diameter in the Bushehr nuclear power plant (located in Iran) at one time, by that time there was no fuel. Then it was hit by a missile, which easily penetrated and melted through the containment wall," said the deputy head of the IAEA.

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