The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossiplans to travel next week to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, occupied by Russian troops, “to assess first-hand the nuclear security situation”.
The IAEA published a statement informing the visit to the plant in Ukraine where he underlines the “urgent need to protect it in the midst of the current military conflict”.
It will be the second time that Grossi visits the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and the first since the deployment of the permanent presence of the IAEA, on September 1.
“I have decided to travel again to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to see for myself how the situation has changed since September and to speak with those who manage the facilities in these unprecedented circumstances, so difficult,” Grossi said, according to the IAEA statement.
The head of the body assured that he continues “doing everything possible to help reduce the risk of nuclear accident in the tragic war in Ukraine”.
“Despite our presence already for seven months the situation remains precarious at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Nuclear safety and the dangers are as evident as the need to act now to avoid an accident and its potential radiological consequences on health and the environment,” warned Grossi, who He has been requesting the creation of a security zone around the plant for months. “That’s why I’m still working on a proposal to protect the plant,” he said.
The bombardments in the vicinity of the plant have already caused it to lose power several times and several essential security systems to momentarily depend on electricity provided by emergency generators.
Grossi pointed out that his trip also seeks to guarantee a regular rotation of IAEA experts to and from the plant after the problems that affected the February rotation, delayed almost a month.
Grossi is accompanied by a group of IAEA experts, the seventh group of its kind since the IAEA Support Mission to Zaporizhzhia.
On March 9, the gigantic plant was cut off from the Ukrainian power grid for 11 hours after a Russian attack. Diesel generators were turned on to provide a minimum of power to safety systems, according to the state atomic energy company Energoatom, which warned of the risk of a nuclear accident. “We are playing with fire,” Grossi warned.
The High Representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell, also expressed concern about shelling in the area. “It is a serious violation of nuclear security caused by Russia (…) Zaporizhzhia is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and Russia is endangering the security of the entire European continent.”
Without electricity from these generators, overheating of the reactor fuel can lead to a nuclear accident, a scenario similar to that of the Fukushima plant, Japan, in 2011.
(With information from EuropaPress, AFP and EFE)
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Source-www.infobae.com