The head of the UN nuclear agency said that all nuclear safety principles were violated in Zaporizhzhia.

The head of the UN nuclear agency said that a massive nuclear power plant occupied by Russia during the invasion of Ukraine was “totally out of control”.

The Argentinean Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in an interview with the Associated Press news agency that the plant in Zaporizhzhia, in southern Ukraine, needed inspection and repair.

“There are a number of things that should never happen at any nuclear facility,” he said.

Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is located dangerously close to conflict.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia earlier this week of using the facility, which it raided in March, as a military base to launch an offensive against Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine said the Russians had deployed troops and stored military equipment on the site of the facility, located on the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine.

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However, a Russian official working in the area told Reuters news agency that Ukrainian forces used Western-sourced weapons to attack the facility.

According to Yevgeny Balitsky, Russia is ready to show the IAEA how it is protecting the nuclear facility from Ukrainian attacks.

When the Russians took over the factory, the bombing of the plant caused an international backlash.

The plant is still in operation with Ukrainian workers under Russian control.

“The situation is very fragile. All nuclear safety principles have been violated in one way or another, and we cannot allow this to continue,” Grossi said at a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York. said.

The director-general of the IAEA said that he is trying to establish a mission as soon as possible to visit the facility, but this requires the approval of the Ukrainian and Russian parties, as well as UN authorization given the risks of visiting the war zone.

In June, Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear company said it had not invited the country’s UN agency, as any visit would legitimize Russia’s presence there.

This week, Grossi said he and his crew needed protection to reach Zaporizhzhia. namely, the cooperation of Russia and Ukraine. “I ask both sides to allow this mission to continue,” he said.

Speaking to the AP, Grossi said the UN agency’s contacts with facility personnel were “irregular” and the equipment and spare parts supply chain was disrupted. He also added that there is a lot of nuclear material that needs to be studied.

“As long as this war continues, inaction is unthinkable.” “If an accident happens at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, won’t we have a natural disaster to blame? We’ll just have to answer for ourselves. We need everyone’s support.”

Accusing the Russians of using the plant as a “nuclear shield”, Minister Blinken said, “Of course, the Ukrainians cannot fight lest there is a terrible accident with the nuclear plant.”

In 1986, northern Ukraine was the scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster when a reactor at the Chernobyl power plant exploded.

Russian forces also took Chernobyl shortly after the invasion on February 24 this year, but withdrew five weeks later. Computers on site were looted or damaged, but important structures at the decommissioned power station were unaffected.

– This text was published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-62420199.

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