IAEA Will Maintain a Continued Presence at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant
Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) began inspecting Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya nuclear power. As IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on Twitter, some of his colleagues will stay at the power plant site for several days and establish a continued IAEA presence.
The IAEA will establish a continued presence at Europe's largest nuclear power plant. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons /Ralf1969, CC BY-SA 3.0
After the IAEA mission to the controversial nuclear power plant was launched earlier this week, the agency's staff toured key sites at the plant.
As reported by Vindobona.org, the IAEA mission called IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya (ISAMZ) set out for Ukraine to assess physical damage, determine the functionality of safety & security systems, evaluate staff conditions and perform urgent safeguards activities at Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.
I am finishing my first visit to #Ukraine’s #Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant.@IAEAorg is here to stay and will maintain a continued presence at #ZNPP. pic.twitter.com/k4zO3IMe2I
— Rafael MarianoGrossi (@rafaelmgrossi) September 1, 2022
Now IAEA Director General Grossi confirmed that the IAEA wants to establish a permanent presence at the nuclear power plant. The power plant, which is occupied by Russian troops after repeated shelling, is under constant threat of becoming the source of a new nuclear disaster due to the fighting.
The #IAEA Director General Mr. Rafael Mariano Grossi confirmed today his plans to establish permanent presence of Agency’s specialists at the #ZNPP. Russia welcomes this intention.
— Mikhail Ulyanov (@Amb_Ulyanov) August 31, 2022
Mikhail Ulyanov, permanent representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations in Vienna, confirmed that Russia welcomes the IAEA's decision to establish a permanent presence at the plant.
Grossi also met with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on the way to the power plant. The Ukrainian president assured and emphasized his hope that the mission would reach the Zaporizhzhya NPP through security corridors and do everything "to avoid a global threat."