The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) revealed this Wednesday that it was denied access to rooms in several reactors at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, in southern Ukraine, which have been affected by power outages.
“During the last two weeks, we have not been authorized to access the reactor rooms of units 1, 2 and 6,” of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, controlled by Russia, the IAEA said in a statement.
According to that agency, which has had a permanent team on the ground, this is the first time that technicians “are not authorized to access the reactor space of one of the units that is offline, where the reactor core and the fuel”.
A month ago, at the beginning of December, the IAEA stated that there had been a temporary outage in the operation of the Ukrainian Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and that it was necessary to use emergency generators in dieselto cool reactors and maintain essential nuclear safety functions.
“The latest external power outage is yet another reminder of the precariousness of the nuclear safety situation at the plant, which could be affected by distant events,” stressed then the director of the UN nuclear agency, Rafael Grossi.
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a military offensive in Ukraine that caused, according to UN data, the worst refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945) and in the last 21 months a high number of victims. not only military but also civilians, impossible to count as long as the conflict continues.
The invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by most of the international community, which has responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing political sanctions on Russia. and economical.
Source: TSF
