The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will visit the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, to assess the safety situation.
According to foreign media on the 26th (local time), IAEA Secretary-General Rafael Grossi went on a visit to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. “I am on my way to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant to personally assess the nuclear safety and security status of the facility,” Grossi wrote on Twitter.
This is Grossi’s second visit to the nuclear power plant after his first visit in September last year. In September of last year, Secretary General Grossi had IAEA experts stationed there to check the safety situation.
Secretary-General Grossi strongly appeals that the area around the nuclear power plant should be set up as a protected area in connection with the external power line of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which remained until the end, cut off due to Russia’s large-scale missile attack, which resumed on the 9th.
Secretary-General Grossi said, “I was surprised at the complacency” regarding the safety issue of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, and emphasized that “we are the IAEA, and we must pay attention to nuclear safety.”
On the 22nd, he expressed concern, saying that the safety of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which was damaged by a Russian missile attack, is still in jeopardy.
“In early March, the last remaining backup 330 kilovolt (kV) power line connection to the damaged Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was disconnected and is being repaired,” he said in a statement.
According to the statement, the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was cut off from all external power for 11 hours after a 750-kV transmission line was cut following Russian airstrikes on the 9th, and had to rely on emergency diesel generators for cooling the reactor and other essential nuclear safety and security functions.
Until the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year, this nuclear power plant accounted for about 20% of Ukraine’s electricity generation. It has not produced electricity since the last of its six reactors shut down in September last year.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.