The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, expressed concern this Wednesday that the dangers surrounding Ukraine’s nuclear power plants are “multiplying”, due to the proximity of fighting and electricity cuts.
“There is a series of dangers that are multiplying and that will remain until the end of the conflict,” Rafael Grossi told the press, on the sidelines of a visit to the site where radioactive waste would be buried in Bure (Maas ). in the east of France.
The Zaporijia nuclear power plant, in southern Ukraine, has remained in Russian hands since the invasion of the country in early 2022.
“Military actions have increased and during the permanent specialist mission that we have in Zaporijia and also in other Ukrainian nuclear power plants, we are witnessing a multiplication of attacks in the vicinity of the plants, which worries us greatly,” Grossi said.
The head of the specialized UN agency also referred to the electricity outages, “which compromised the cooling function of the reactors.”
In this context, the IAEA seeks “to have a deterrent effect on all parties, to prevent the misery of this war from being accompanied by an accident with radiological consequences,” he explained.
Zaporijia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, fell into the hands of the Russian army on March 4, 2022 and was hit several times by projectiles and suffered several power outages, a precarious situation that raises fears of a serious nuclear accident.
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a military offensive in Ukraine that, according to UN data, caused the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II (1939-1945) and caused a large number of casualties in the past 21 months, not only military but also civilian , impossible to count as long as the conflict continues.
The invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by most of the international community, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and Russia impose political and economic sanctions. .
Source: DN
