Ukraine nuclear agency thickens alleged dirty bomb plot

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s nuclear energy operator is offering what it suggests are clues about what might be behind Russia’s recent claims that Kyiv’s forces are preparing a “provocation” involving a radioactive device. Energoatom said Tuesday that Russian forces have carried out secret construction work at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant over the last week. The company says it “assumes … (the Russians) are preparing a terrorist act using nuclear materials and radioactive waste” stored at Europe’s largest nuclear plant. It says the destruction of containers of spent nuclear fuel would lead to a radiation accident and radiation contamination of several hundred square kilometers (miles) of adjacent territory.