War in Ukraine: the situation of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is “extremely fragile and dangerous”

THE International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), led by Argentine Rafael Mariano Grossi, has established five basic principles to avoid a nuclear catastrophe in Ukraine.

those principles must be respected by Kiev and Moscow to ensure the safety of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, the largest in Europe and currently in the hands of the Russian army.

Grossi himself reported this on Tuesday to the UN Security Council, before which he once again warned that the situation in Zaporizhia it is “extremely fragile and dangerous”.

With a Ukrainian counter-offensive just around the corner, a Russia without a clear North and a Vladimir Putin unable to back down without leaving an indelible mark on UkraineZaporizhia lives on the verge of a nuclear accident.

The terrifying scene of a catastrophic nuclear accident explains the urgency of Rafael Grossi, this Tuesday, in the enumeration of the Security Councilnew principles to follow:

do not launch any kind of attack against the plantthat it is not used to store heavy weapons or offensively capable troops, that the electrical supply of the facility is not endangered, that all of its essential structures, systems and components are protected, and that nothing is done to undermine these commitments .

As he explained, the experts that the IAEA has deployed in the plant to ensure its safety will have the task of supervising compliance with these principles and the body will make any violations public.

“These principles are not harmful to anyone and benefit everyone. Avoiding a nuclear accident is possible. Complying with the IAEA’s five principles is the way to start,” said Grossi, who said his wording held consultations with the Ukrainian and Russian authorities.

Grossi has spent the last few weeks traveling to Moscow and Kiev.

In the ensuing debate, members of the United Nations Security Council endorsed these ground rules, with Western powers further denouncing that This whole situation is Russia’s responsibility. for his invasion of the neighboring country and his decision to take over the plant.

Grossi, in statements to journalists, considered the reception by member states to be very positive and said that the IAEA will strengthen its mission on the ground to take on new responsibilities, including reporting possible violations, which he trusts it has a deterrent effect against possible dangerous movements of the conflicting parties.

However, following the deployment of IAEA inspectors to Zaporizhia in September, The agency has not made a single complaint public this allows one of the two parties to be accused of putting in place risky practices that could compromise the safety of the plant.

catastrophic risk

The Zaporizhia plant has six nuclear reactorsfive of which are cold-stopped, while the remainder only supplies energy for the plant’s needs, but according to the IAEA there are still risks that trigger a catastrophe.

In particular, Grossi stressed this Tuesday, due to the fact that the plant is located in an area where military activities continue and may increasedue to limited number of staff running it and due to the repeated power outages, which forced the use of standby generators to cool the reactor and prevent a crash up to seven times, the last one a week ago.

“We are lucky that there hasn’t been a nuclear accident yet,” he said.

Almost from the beginning of the war the Zaporizhia plant was one of the hottest points of the conflictafter its capture by Russian troops.

kyiv accuses russia of using the facility for store military equipment and launch attacks against Ukraine, so that the Ukrainian forces cannot respond for fear of causing a nuclear accident, while Moscow has repeatedly denounced the Ukrainian bombing of the plant.

Ukrainian requests

This Tuesday, both sides they gave support to the principles set by the IAEA, but Ukraine has stressed that they are not enough and that Russia must withdraw from the facility as soon as possible.

“Troops and weapons must get out. The plant must be vacated and returned to Ukraine’s rightful control,” Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said.

His Russian counterpart, Vasili Nebenzia, has denied that his country has used the facility to launch attacks and has heavy weapons there, while promised the ‘toughest measures’ if Kiev attacks the facility’s critical infrastructure.

EFE extension

ap