VIENNA (AP) — The U.N. atomic watchdog's board held a special session Friday to discuss risks to nuclear safety in Ukraine as concerns mount that relentless Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure pose an increasing danger of a nuclear accident.
The urgent meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors was held at the request of the Netherlands with support from 11 other countries, diplomats said — Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania and the United Kingdom. Though it won't produce any binding outcome, the aim is to increase diplomatic pressure on Russia.
Russia's “ongoing and daily” attacks against Ukraine's energy infrastructure in recent weeks have caused significant damage, Netherlands Ambassador Peter Potman told the board.
"Not only does this leave millions of Ukrainians in the cold and dark during a very harsh winter, but it is also negatively impacting nuclear safety in Ukraine, bringing the prospect of a nuclear accident to the very precipice of becoming a reality,” he said.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said that damage to electrical substations “undermines nuclear safety and must be avoided.”
Although nuclear power plants produce energy themselves, they rely on an uninterrupted supply of external power from electrical substations to ensure reactor cooling. In the event of a sudden loss of power, emergency diesel generators are available. But if those fail, too, the risk of a nuclear meltdown increases.
Ukraine has four nuclear power plants, three of them under Kyiv’s control. The fourth and biggest, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, has been occupied by Russian forces since the early days of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Ukraine is also home to the former Chernobyl plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident in 1986.
“As we speak, an IAEA expert mission is underway at Ukraine’s electrical substations amid ongoing strikes on the country’s power infrastructure," Grossi said. “The mission will assess 10 substations crucial to nuclear safety.”
Ukrainian Ambassador Yurii Vitrenko told reporters as the meeting started that it is “high time” for the IAEA to “shine an additional spotlight on the threat to nuclear safety and security in Europe” caused by Russia’s “systematic and deliberate destruction of Ukrainian energy infrastructure.”
He said that Kyiv appreciates the “personal efforts” of U.S. President Donald Trump to “halt energy terror by the Russian Federation” and he expressed hope that these efforts will bring “tangible results.”
On Friday, the terms of a Russian commitment to Trump to temporarily halt its bombardment of Ukraine during one of the country’s bleakest winters in years remained unclear.
FILE - The flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency flies in front of its headquarters during an IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, on Feb. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, File)
MIAMI (AP) — Florida won’t be getting hit with massive blankets of snow and ice like the rest of the U.S., but even frosty windshields and a few flurries can feel like Antarctica to people with permanent sandal tans.
The Midwest and South have been getting major winter storms for several days, and a giant cyclone forecast in the Atlantic Ocean is expected to pull that cold weather east as a powerful blizzard this weekend. The worst seems to be heading toward the Carolinas, but the Sunshine State's humans, animals and even plants are preparing for winter weather.
Ana Torres-Vazquez, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Miami, said a cold front earlier this week has already caused temperatures to dip some, but the region could experience record-setting cold this weekend.
“It looks like temperatures across South Florida are dipping into the 30s (Fahrenheit) for most of the metro area and maybe into the 20s for areas near Lake Okeechobee,” Torres-Vazquez said. “And then the windchill could make those temperatures feel even cooler.”
Residents of South Florida are less likely to have heavy coats and other winter clothes, so Torres-Vazquez said it's important to layer up lighter clothing and limit time spent outside.
Moving north, Tony Hurt, a National Weather Service forecaster for the Tampa Bay area, said there’s a 10 to 20% chance of snowfall in that region this weekend.
“Most likely if there’s any snow that does actually materialize, it’ll be primarily in the form of flurries, no accumulations,” Hurt said.
The last two times the area got snow was flurries in January 2010 and December 1989. The record for snowfall was in January 1977, with 2 inches (5 centimeters) of snow about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Tampa.
Despite the possibility of snow, Tampa will host the annual Gasparilla Pirate Fest on Saturday. And on Sunday, the Tampa Bay Lightning are set to host the Boston Bruins for an outdoor NHL game at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' home NFL stadium.
Few tourists visiting Florida will be swimming in the ocean or laying out on sunny beaches this weekend, but many attractions will remain open. Most of Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando will operate normally, though their water parks will be closed. Most of the state's zoos and animal parks will also remain open while keepers take steps to protect the inhabitants.
Zoo Miami spokesman Ron Magill said keepers have been setting up heaters and moving reptiles and smaller mammals to indoor enclosures, while primates like chimpanzees and orangutans are given blankets to keep themselves warm. Big cats and large hoofed animals generally do well in colder temperatures and don't require much assistance from keepers.
“It can be invigorating for animals like the tiger, so they’ll actually become more active,” Magill said.
Outside the safety of the zoo, Florida's native wildlife has evolved and learned to survive occasional cold snaps, though casualties will still occur, Magill said. Manatees, for example, have spent decades congregating at the warm-water outflows of about a dozen power plants around Florida.
But invasive, nonnative animals like iguanas and other exotic reptiles will suffer the most, Magill said. Iguanas in South Florida famously enter a torpid state during cold periods and even fall out of trees. They usually wake up when the temperature increases, but many will die after more than a day of extreme cold.
“At the end of the day, they don’t belong here, and that might be nature’s way of trying to clean that up a little bit,” Magill said. “That is a part of natural selection.”
Florida's agriculture industry is also bracing for the cold. Farmers are working to safeguard their crops as winter harvest continues and spring planting begins in some areas, Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association spokeswoman Christina Morton said.
“Preparations vary by crop and include harvesting and planting ahead of the freeze, increasing water levels in ditches, using overhead irrigation, and, in some cases, deploying helicopters to protect sensitive fields,” Morton said.
The Florida deep freeze comes as the arctic blast from Canada also spreads into southern states where thousands of people remain without power to heat their homes, and people in mid-Atlantic states prepare for possible blizzard conditions as a new storm is expected to churn along the East Coast.
Temperatures in hard-hit northern Mississippi will feel as cold as minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 21 degrees Celsius) when the winds are factored in, National Weather Service forecasters say. People in a large part of the southeastern U.S. were under a variety of alerts warning of extremely cold weather on the way.
The storm expected to hit the Eastern Seaboard has prompted more warnings in the Carolinas and nearby states. That storm is expected to bring heavy snow and strong winds, which could create “dangerous, near-blizzard conditions,” the weather service warned.
Beachgoers brave the cold ocean temperature while walking on a sandbar Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Robert Minion and his friend James Denburg of MA., take advantage of the cool weather to play beach tennis Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
A bundled up Lucia Amato, of Argentina, sits on the shore while waiting for a friend in Miami Beach, Fla., Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026.A bundled up (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
