Last week, grossi had performed the visual inspection at the nuclear power stationlocated in eastern Ukraine, which has been under Russian control since March 2022. The UN official’s concern is due to the increase in hostilities in the area, he denounced.
Zaporizhia and the nuclear threat of the war between Russia and Ukraine
However, despite their efforts, the IAEA was unable to create a combat-free area around the plant, to prevent a “nuclear catastrophe”. That is why the Argentine Rafael Grossi met this Wednesday with Russian officials in the city of Kaliningrad, in another attempt to prevent an atomic disaster due to the fighting around the nuclear power plant in the Ukrainian province of Zaporizhia.
The power plant in southern Ukraine, the largest in Europe, has been controlled since March 2022 by the Russian Army in the framework of the invasion of Ukraine, and for months both belligerents have accused each other of bombing it.
“I met with senior officials from various Russian agencies. I continue my efforts to protect the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant”said grossi during a visit to Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania.
“My recent visit to (Zaporizhia) confirmed the urgent need to achieve this essential goal, which is in everyone’s interest”he added on his Twitter account.
This is the first trip of grossi to the place since his re-election earlier this month for a new term at the head of the IAEA and the second since September 2022.
Russia supports IAEA efforts
Grossi has been urging for months to create a security zone around the facility, whose six reactors are shut down to minimize the risk of their exposure to the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine. These countries periodically accuse each other of shooting at the plant.
the nuclear power plant Zaporizhia It is the largest in Europe, as it has six pressurized water reactors of the model VVER-1000 and has a total capacity of 6,000 megawatts.
For its part, the Russian nuclear company Rosatom stressed that its general director, Alexei Likhachev, had detailed to Grossi “the measures adopted by the Russian authorities to guarantee the safety of operations” at the plant.
Russia is “willing to continue working on the application” of Grossi’s proposals, added Rosatom, reported the AFP news agency.
After months of fruitless talks, the idea of a demilitarized zone around the central strategic no longer seems to be viable or a main part of his agenda.
During your last visit, Grossi expressed his concern about the increase in military activity in the arealocated in the center of the Russian offensive against Ukraine.
At the same time, he said he wanted to find “realistic” measures and called for weapons and heavy military equipment not to be stored there.
Source: Ambito
