“The presence of the IAEA will help stabilize the nuclear safety and security situation at the site and reduce the risk of a serious nuclear accident in Europe,” he added. According to Grossi, the resumption of bombing in areas near the plant, the largest in Europe, once again highlights the serious risks to nuclear safety that the facility faces.
In a letter sent by Ukrainian authorities to the agency, it was reported that yesterday there were shellings that damaged the transformers of the nearby thermal power plant, which caused a disconnection of the power line for several hours. That letter also detailed that the weekend attacks had damaged Zaporizhia’s infrastructure, including chemical and laboratory facilities.
The IAEA’s announcement comes a day after the leaders of the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom called for military “containment” around Zaporizhia and the “rapid” dispatch of a mission of inspectors from the agency, following cross-accusations of attacks near the plant that Ukraine and Russia have made public since the end of July. The upsurge in fighting around the plant has resurfaced fears of a nuclear catastrophe and was the subject of an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council last week.
The previous Friday, the IAEA had reiterated its “urgent” call to the Russians and Ukrainians to act with “maximum containment” at the plant and said that it was maintaining contacts to be able to send an expert mission “as soon as possible.” Although Grossi acknowledged the willingness of kyiv and Moscow to accept the arrival of this team, he said that he hoped that these gestures would allow a mission of the agency to reach the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
Russian troops took control of this plant on March 4, shortly after the start of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The successive attacks forced the Ukrainian agency Energoatom, which still manages the plant, to shut down four of the six reactors that power some 4 million Ukrainian homes.
Source: Ambito
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