Grossi says Zaporizhzhia safety talks 'more critical than ever'
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has held talks with Rosatom's Director General in Moscow, focusing on safety and security issues for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Posting on the social media site X, Grossi wrote: "Completed interagency consultations in Moscow with Russian delegation led by Rosatom’s [Alexei] Likhachev. After 3 years of talks on ZNPP nuclear safety and security, these are more critical than ever. The IAEA stands fully engaged to prevent a nuclear accident."
According to Russia's Tass news agency, the talks - which took place as the Russia-Ukraine war approaches its third anniversary - also covered safety and security risks to the Kursk and Smolensk nuclear power plants and general energy infrastucture.
It quoted Likhachev as saying "we thoroughly informed the esteemed IAEA delegation about measures that are being taken to ensure the unconditional protection" of the Zaporizhzhia plant "in terms of both nuclear safety and nuclear security".
The six-unit Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been under Russian military control since early March 2022. It is located on the frontline of Russian and Ukrainian forces.
The IAEA has had a team of experts stationed at the site since September 2022 as part of efforts to help ensure its safety and security. The agency, with UN Security Council backing, has set out core principles to help ensure its safety, including that it should not be fired at or from, and should not be used as a base for heavy military equipment.
Earlier this week, Grossi travelled to Ukraine, where he inspected a substation and warned of potential safety risks for nuclear power plants from any loss of external power supplies. In an update on Thursday, the IAEA said its team at Zaporizhzhia continued to hear "multiple instances of explosions on most days, some very close to the plant. There were no reports of damage to the site".
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