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April 17 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1421, the sea broke the dikes at Dort, Holland, drowning an estimated 100,000 people.

In 1521, the Roman Catholic Church excommunicated Martin Luther after he refused to admit to charges of heresy.

In 1790, U.S. statesman, printer, scientist and writer Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia at age 84.

File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI

In 1912, the sister ship of the doomed RMS Titanic, the Olympic, radioed in that survivors of the ocean liner sinking were rescued and safely on board the RMS Carpathia.

In 1961, a force of anti-Castro rebels began the Bay of Pigs Invasion in an attempt to overthrow Cuba’s new communist government.

In 1964, Jerrie Mock of Columbus, Ohio, became the first woman to complete a solo flight around the world.

In 1969, a jury found Sirhan B. Sirhan guilty of first-degree murder for the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

File Photo by Ron Bennett/UPI

In 1970, with the world anxiously watching on television, Apollo 13, a U.S. lunar spacecraft that sustained a severe malfunction on its journey to the moon, safely returned to Earth.

In 1989, the Polish labor union Solidarity was granted legal status after nearly a decade of struggle and suppression — clearing the way for the downfall of the country’s Communist Party.

In 1993, a federal jury convicted two Los Angeles police officers and acquitted two others of violating the civil rights of Rodney King during his 1991 arrest and beating.

In 2004, the Israeli army confirmed it had killed Abdel Aziz Rantisi, Hamas co-founder and its leader in Gaza, in a missile strike. Two others also died with Rantisi, who had opposed any compromise with Israel.

In 2012, U.S. investor Warren Buffett, one of the world’s wealthiest people, said he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

File Photo by Molly Riley/UPI

In 2013, an explosion at a West, Texas, fertilizer plant killed 15 people, injured dozens and caused massive property damage in the community.

In 2018, former first lady Barbara Bush died at the age of 92 after refusing medical treatment for her failing health. Her husband, former President George H.W. Bush, died less than one year later.

In 2024, Russian missile strikes targeting the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv killed more than a dozen people and injured scores more.

File Photo by State Emergency Service/EPA-EFE

April 14 (UPI) — Ecuador’s government will formally accept the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant this week, nearly a decade after technical disputes first delayed final delivery of the Chinese-built facility.

The handover follows resolution of an international arbitration dispute with Sinohydro, a subsidiary of PowerChina, over structural defects at the plant.

Ecuadorian Environment and Energy Minister Ines Manzano said the transfer will proceed under guaranteed conditions, allowing immediate operation and maintenance of the infrastructure.

Since the plant began partial operations in 2016, Ecuador and the Chinese contractor remained locked in a legal dispute over major structural flaws that prevented final acceptance of the project.

A 2018 report by Ecuador’s comptroller identified more than 7,600 cracks in the plant’s eight water distributors — key components that channel water to the turbines, local newspaper La Hora reported.

Subsequent technical reports and audits raised that figure to more than 17,000 cracks, fueling concerns over material quality, welding processes and possible design flaws.

The comptroller’s office warned the defects pose serious risks, including possible flooding of the powerhouse, total shutdown of the plant and danger to workers.

After Sinohydro declined to undertake permanent repairs, Ecuador took the dispute to the International Chamber of Commerce’s arbitration court.

The dispute was resolved through a financial and operational agreement under which Ecuador will receive $400 million in compensation. The government will next sign an operation and maintenance contract with PowerChina requiring the company to repair damage and replace defective water distributors, local newspaper El Comercio reported.

Separate from the structural issues, the facility also faces a broader environmental threat from regressive erosion of the Coca River, a geological process that has altered the surrounding area since the plant entered service.

The erosion has advanced toward the plant’s water intake structures, prompting the government to carry out emergency work that includes construction of permeable dams to slow the river’s force and retain sediment at a cost of $19 million.

The Coca Codo Sinclair plant is Ecuador’s largest and most strategic power generation facility.

With installed capacity of 1,500 megawatts, it supplies about 30% of Ecuador’s electricity demand on average and can account for more than half of the country’s hydropower generation during peak operations.

According to Infobae, the Coca Codo Sinclair case has become a symbol for analysts citing problems in Chinese-financed infrastructure projects across Latin America.

The plant was built with loans from the Export-Import Bank of China during the administration of Rafael Correa and has been at the center of investigations into alleged corruption tied to its contracting.

Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant has been targeted four times since the United States-Israel war on Iran began more than a month ago.

And the World Health Organization (WHO has warned of “catastrophic” risks if a radioactive release occurs.

Tehran has accused the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog of inaction – an allegation that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rejects. But it does acknowledge that the situation is of deep concern.

Why are the attacks happening, and what risks do they pose?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Tariq Rauf – Former head of verification and security policy coordination at the IAEA

Abas Aslani – Senior research fellow at the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies

Alicia Sanders-Zakre – Head of policy at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Tehran says it is the fourth attack near the nuclear plant amid the US-Israel war on Iran.

One person has been killed by projectile fragments after United States-Israeli strikes targeted a location close to Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The agency, citing confirmation from Iranian authorities, said in a statement on X that there was “no increase in radiation levels” after Saturday’s attack.

Later on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed the Bushehr facility had been “bombed” four times since the war erupted, criticising what he described as a lack of concern for its safety.

The strike comes as the US and Israel escalate their targeting of Iranian industrial sites, even as experts warn of the high risks of striking nuclear or petrochemical facilities.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi expressed “deep concern about the reported incident and says [nuclear] sites or nearby areas must never be attacked, noting that auxiliary site buildings may contain vital safety equipment”, the statement read.

Grossi also reiterated a “call for maximum military restraint to avoid risk of a nuclear accident,” the IAEA added.

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) confirmed the incident, also in a post on X.

An “auxiliary” building on the site was damaged, but the main sections of the power plant were not affected by the strike, the government agency said, adding that the person killed was a member of security personnel.

It’s the fourth time the site has been attacked since the start of the US and Israel’s war on Iran, the AEOI noted.

The Bushehr plant is Iran’s only operational nuclear power plant. It is located in Bushehr city, home to 250,000 people, and is one of Iran’s most important industrial and military nodes.

Meanwhile, US and Israeli strikes on Saturday hit several petrochemical plants in the southern Khuzestan region, an important energy hub, according to Iranian media.

At least five people are reported injured.

Explosions were heard, and smoke was also seen rising after missiles hit several locations across the Mahshahr Petrochemical Special Economic Zone.

The state-run Bandar Imam petrochemical complex, which produces chemicals, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), polymers and a range of other products, was struck and sustained damage, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported.

A provincial governor in Khuzestan added that the Fajr 1 and 2 petrochemical companies, as well as other nearby facilities, were also hit, according to the Fars news agency. The extent of damage is unclear.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed it shot down an MQ-1 drone over central Isfahan province on Saturday, hours after authorities said they forced down two US warplanes.

Isfahan, which houses an underground uranium conversion and a research site, was one of three facilities bombed during US and Israeli strikes on Iran last June.

March 27 (UPI) — The United Nations nuclear watchdog said Thursday it has begun discussions for another localized cease-fire for Ukraine‘s Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to allow for urgently needed repairs.

The plant, Europe’s largest, has been occupied by Russian forces since early in the war, which has repeatedly endangered and damaged the site.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said that the situation at the plant is challenging and has warned about the risk the war poses to it.

The IAEA said Tuesday that the ZNPP lost connection to its sole remaining main power line after it was damaged and was now dependent on a single backup line that had only recently been reconnected to the plant.

On Thursday, the IAEA said in a statement that its director, Rafael Grossi, had begun discussions with Russia and Ukraine to secure a cease-fire so the necessary repairs could be conducted.

Although the timing for the necessary repairs remains uncertain, Grossi has confirmed that they have “proposed a cease-fire window to both parties, allowing for safe assessment and restoration of the damaged infrastructure,” it said.

The IAEA has brokered five localized cease-fires for Zaporizhzhia, the latest initiated late last month that allowed for repairs to the sole backup power line, which was reconnected to the nuclear power plant on March 5.

The plant is located in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southeastern Ukraine. Russian forces seized the utility on March 4, marking the first time a civilian nuclear facility has been occupied.

On the grim anniversary of the plant’s fourth year of Russian occupation, Ukraine’s state-run nuclear energy enterprise said the facility “remains one of the most acute risks to European energy and nuclear stability.”

“The seizure of a nuclear facility and its use as a tool for political pressure is a violation of the fundamental rules of the industry,” Energoatom CEO Pavlo Kovtonyuk said in a statement.

“Our task is to protect people and be ready at any moment to resume safe operation of the plant.”

March 24 (UPI) — An unidentified projectile struck the grounds of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant on Tuesday night, according to Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, the second time in a little more than two weeks that the facility has been threatened by the ongoing war.

The projectile struck at 9:08 p.m. local time, resulting in no casualties or damage, it said in a statement.

“Attacking peaceful nuclear facilities is not only a violation of international regulations and rights, but also seriously endangers #regional security,” Iran’s AEO said in a post tagging the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“It is expected that international institutions will adopt a responsible and transparent stance in response to such actions.”

The IAEA said it was informed of the incident by Iran, adding that the plant was operating normally.

The agency’s director-general, Rafael Grossi, reiterated his call “for maximum restraint to avoid nuclear safety risks during conflict,” the IAEA said in a statement.

The incident comes eight days after an unidentified projectile struck near the plant on March 17, the first reported strike near Bushehr since the war between Iran and the United States and Israel began late last month.

Located near Bushehr city on Iran’s southwest Persian Gulf coast, the Bushehr plant began construction in 1975, but its original German contractor abandoned the project following the Islamic Revolution four years later. In the mid-1990s, Russia agreed to complete Bushehr Unit 1, Iran’s first reactor, which began operating in 2011, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.

A fire broke out at a car parts plant in the central city of Daejeon on Friday, injuring at least 53 people, with 14 others unaccounted for, authorities said.

The fire was reported at around 1:17 p.m., prompting the National Fire Agency to issue a national firefighting mobilization order, which is given when the scale of the fire is deemed to surpass the firefighting capacity of the local government.

A total of 170 workers were inside the plant when the blaze started, and 14 of them have been unreachable, officials said.

Of the injured, including 24 with serious injuries, many had inhaled toxic gas or fallen from the building, they said.

More than 200 firefighters and 90 pieces of equipment have been deployed to the scene to put out the blaze, aided by helicopters from the forestry service.

Of the two buildings making up the plant, one has completely burned down, while the other is still burning. Firefighters have not been able to enter the structure due to concerns it could collapse.

Also complicating the firefighting effort is 200 kilograms of sodium inside the building, which could explode if poorly handled.

President Lee Jae Myung ordered authorities to mobilize all available resources to rescue the victims and contain the fire, his office said.

Earlier, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok gave similar instructions to the interior ministry and the fire agency, while ordering the Daejeon metropolitan government and the police to ensure no further damage by implementing traffic control and evacuation measures.

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March 17 (UPI) — An unidentified projectile struck the premises of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant on Tuesday evening, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said, raising fresh concerns about the risks the U.S.-Iran war poses to nuclear facilities in the region.

Little information about the strike was made public in the carefully worded and brief statement from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said it had been informed that “a projectile hit the premises of the Bushehr NPP on Tuesday evening.”

“No damage to the plant or injuries to staff reported,” it said.

The IAEA’s director general, Rafael Grossi, reiterated his call “for maximum restraint during the conflict to prevent risk of a nuclear accident,” the agency said.

Located near Bushehr city on Iran’s southwest Persian Gulf coast, the Bushehr plant began construction in 1975, but its original German contractor abandoned the project following the Islamic Revolution four years later. In the mid-1990s, Russia agreed to complete Bushehr Unit 1, Iran’s first reactor, which began operating in 2011, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.

Rosatom, Russia’s state atomic energy corporation, said the projectile struck near the metrology service building in the vicinity of the plant’s operating power unit at 6:11 p.m. local time, according to Russian state-run TASS news agency.

“There were no casualties among personnel of the Rosatom State Corporation. Radiation levels at the site are normal,” Rosatom General Director Alexei Likhachev said.

The strike was the first on the premises of the nuclear power plant since the war between Iran and the United States and Israel began late last month, he noted.

This is a developing story.