The Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, has expressed worry about the continuous explosions at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) where nuclear safety and security remains precarious.
In a statement on Friday, the IAEA said Mr Rafael Grossi will, next week, travel to Ukraine to hold high-level talks and assess developments at the facility.
This visit will be the fifth time that the Director-General crosses the frontline to access the ZNPP after he established a permanent IAEA presence at the site two years ago, on 1st September 2022, to monitor nuclear safety and security.
It is the tenth time he is in Ukraine since the conflict began in February 2022.
“The IAEA acts promptly and decisively whenever and wherever there are threats to nuclear safety and security. Our pro-active presence is of paramount importance to help stabilize the situation.
“My message has been loud and clear throughout this tragic war: a nuclear accident must be avoided at all costs, and a nuclear power plant must never be attacked.
“The consequences could be disastrous, and no one stands to benefit from it. I remain determined to do everything in my power to protect nuclear safety and security as long as the fighting continues,” he said.
According to the IAEA, its team stationed at the site has continued to hear explosions and other indications of military activities at times near the plant itself.
“Due to reported drone threats in the area, the team was told to shelter indoors on 20 August and had to reschedule their planned walkdown on 26 August,” IAEA said
Since the Director-General last went to the ZNPP site in February, it has been hit by drone strikes, experienced loss of power lines and, earlier this month, a fire caused significant damage to one of its two cooling towers.
“Two years after I launched our mission at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, it is needed more than ever.
“As these recent deeply concerning incidents make all too clear, the nuclear safety and security situation at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant remains extremely challenging.
“Our teams there and elsewhere in Ukraine are carrying out indispensable work on behalf of the wider international community in very difficult circumstances,” he said.
Over the past week, the IAEA team at the ZNPP has continued to conduct regular walkdowns across the site as part of their on-going nuclear safety and security assessment.
Among other activities, they went to the turbine halls of reactor units five and six but were again not allowed to access the western parts of the buildings, as was also the case when they visited the turbine halls of units three and four in mid-August, and unit two earlier in the month.
The IAEA team is also continuing to closely monitor the cooling water situation at the site.
Following the destruction of the downstream Kakhovka dam last year, the ZNPP dug eleven new wells in order to obtain the water needed for reactor cooling and other essential nuclear safety functions.
“While none of the plants lost all their access to the national electricity grid, which has happened repeatedly at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant over the past two years, I’m increasingly concerned about the growing vulnerability of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and the potential impact this is having on the safety of all Ukraine’s operating nuclear power plants,” Director-General Grossi said.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com