Russian Permanent Representative to UN in Vienna Says Soon Agreement with IAEA on Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant
At Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which is under Russian control, there have again been several powerful explosions, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. An agreement on a protection zone is being fiercely discussed but has yet to be reached. The Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation and Moscow expect significant progress in this direction.
The shelling at the ZNPP has caused chaos and the IAEA demands a nuclear safety and security zone. / Picture: © IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency / Flickr Attribution (CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
Russia expects an agreement with the IAEA on the parameters of the safeguards zone at the embattled Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, according to its Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov.
"[We expect] an agreement with the IAEA Secretariat on the specific parameters of the nuclear and physical safeguards zone at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, or at least significant progress in this direction," the Russian Federation permanent representative said, according to the Russian news agency TASS.
Earlier, Ulyanov said that consultations with Grossi in Moscow were scheduled for December 22. He added, according to TASS, that from the Russian side an inter-ministerial delegation with the participation of representatives of the Foreign Ministry, Rosatom, the Defense Ministry, the National Guard and Rostekhnadzor would take part in the consultations.
According to the IAEA, Grossi said at the "Mediterranean Dialogues" international conference in Rome that an agreement on the creation of a safe zone around the ZNPP could be reached soon. Earlier, the head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, said that the security model discussed with Grossi excluded any shelling of the ZNPP.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, visited Russia on December 22 for discussions on the creation of a security zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.
Another round of necessary discussions on the creation of a protection zone for the #Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. It’s key that the zone focuses solely on preventing a nuclear accident. I am continuing my efforts towards this goal with a sense of utmost urgency. pic.twitter.com/TUzzhZhtDW
— Rafael MarianoGrossi (@rafaelmgrossi) December 22, 2022
According to Grossi, this visit cumulated in "another round of necessary discussions on the creation of a protection zone for the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant." In Grossi's view, the zone must focus solely on preventing nuclear accidents. With a sense of urgency, Grossi assured continuing to work toward this goal.
Zaporizhzhya NPP is located in Energodar, its capacity is about 6 GW. This is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, as Vindobona.org reported.
In late February the plant was taken under control by Russian forces. Since then, as reported by Vindobona.org, units of probably both armies have regularly shelled the territory of the nuclear power plant with drones, heavy artillery and multiple rocket launchers.