The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), already present at the Russian military-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, will send experts to the other Ukrainian sites in the coming days, eventually tripling their number.
The UN body “will soon be permanently deployed at all power plants in Ukraine, including Chernobyl,” according to a press release published late Friday.
Its general manager, Rafael Grossi, will travel there next week to launch the new device.
A “big expansion”
If specific missions have been carried out since the beginning of the war, this decision “marks a great expansion”, stresses the IAEA.
So far, only the highly sensitive site of Zaporijjia, close to the front line and a regular target of shelling, has received personnel from the international organization: “up to four” people have been stationed there since September.
From now on, “between 11 and 12 experts will be present at all times” in Ukraine to “supervise the situation, examine the equipment” or even “provide technical assistance,” the Agency details.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmygal announced in December, after a meeting with Rafael Grossi, that such missions were aimed at “securing” the country’s five power plants, but the timing and size had not been specified.
In addition to Zaporijjia, the inspectors will be deployed in Rivné, Khmelnytskiï, Pivdennooukraïnsk and Chernobyl, the infamous power plant where the most serious civil nuclear accident in history took place in 1986.
The IAEA chief will also meet senior Ukrainian officials during his visit, as part of his efforts to establish a “protection zone” around the Zaporijjia plant.
He has been holding consultations for several months with Kyiv and Moscow, without success so far.
Source: BFM TV
