The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned on Monday that the risk of a nuclear accident in Ukraine, where the Zaporijia power plant is frequently attacked, is currently one of the top concerns.
“At the top of our list and our concern is the situation in Ukraine,” said the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, at the opening of the UN agency’s General Assembly.
“We must do everything in our power to prevent a nuclear accident, which would add tragedy” to the war situation in the country, Grossi said.
The Argentine diplomat specifically referred to the Zaporijia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, which has been occupied by Russian forces since almost the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Grossi recalled that this facility is “under attack” and warned that if an accident happens, it cannot be attributed to a natural disaster, but to inaction.
“We knew what had to be done and there is a plan on the table to do it,” said the IAEA official.
In this sense, Grossi stressed that last week he was in contact with the Russian and Ukrainian authorities, with whom he insisted on the urgency of establishing a nuclear protection and security zone around Zaporijia.
“If we work on the ground, we can stabilize a situation that is simply unacceptable,” he said.
Grossi led a visit to the Zaporijia nuclear power plant in early September, where a team of two international inspectors has since been reporting on the situation there.
In turn, the chairman of Ukraine’s nuclear regulatory agency, Oleh Korikov, accused Russia of being a “nuclear terrorist state” because of its invasion of Ukraine and its occupation of Zaporijia and other nuclear facilities, such as Chernobyl, which was occupied in the beginning. . of the war, but was later halted in early April due to the counter-offensive by Ukrainian forces.
Russia for its part accused Ukraine again today of the attacks on the Zaporijia nuclear power plant.
Source: DN
