IAEA members visiting the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, taken by the Russians. photo by Reuters.
The UN nuclear agency, chaired by Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, warned Tuesday that the situation is “unsustainable” in the Ukrainian central of Zaporizhia, currently occupied by Russian troops and the scene of recent fighting that put a large part of the population at risk a possible radioactive disaster.
The situation report was presented by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in 52 pages highlighting the risks of a war in that nuclear power plant. “The current situation is unsustainable and the best measure to ensure the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities and its population it would be that this armed conflict was already over“, he declares.
“This requires an agreement by all parties to establish a nuclear safety and security zone around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” read the letter published Tuesday in Vienna, Austria. He also recommends six other measures to avoid a catastrophe.
Furthermore, the report states that “the bombing in and around the area must cease immediately to prevent further damage to the structures “and states that the IAEA is willing to” initiate consultations “.
The agency also highlights the “extremely stressful conditions” in which Ukrainian personnel work, under the control of Russian troops. An IAEA delegation was able to visit the facilities last Thursday. Two inspectors will remain permanently on site.
Grossi, executive director of the IAEA, will present the conclusions of the document this afternoon at a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York.
Zaporizhia has been occupied in recent weeks by Vladimir Putin’s forces and disconnected from the Ukrainian network since Monday afternoon. There have been recent attacks of which Russia and Ukraine accuse each other and which for months have posed a risk of nuclear disaster.
The bombing of the plant “by the Ukrainian armed forces” is “potentially extremely dangerous” and could “have catastrophic consequences for a large area, including Europe,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov warned earlier last month. .
In those days, an attack damaged a high-voltage line that supplies electricity to two Ukrainian regions.
The head of the Ukrainian nuclear agency Energoatom, Petro Kotin, responded to the Russian spokesman and made an appeal to evict the Russian occupiers and create a “demilitarized zone” around the plant, which was never accepted by Russia.
“There should be a peacekeeping mission that also includes experts from the IAEA and other security organizations,” he continued in a video posted on Telegram.
In addition to the safety recommendations, the document confirms the presence of Russian military equipment inside the plant and the presence of personnel from the Russian state nuclear company Rosatom, criticized by the IAEA.
“The team observed the presence of Russian military personnel, vehicles and equipment at various locations at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, including several military trucks on the ground floor of the unit (reactor) 1 and unit (reactor) 2 turbine halls. “, indicates the organism.
And it calls for such military equipment to be removed because it interferes with any security operations of the establishment and those spaces were not designed for that military use.
As for the presence of Rosatom personnel, the IAEA says it interferes with “normal lines of command or operational authority and creates potential friction in the decision-making process”.
Finally, the report shows worry the deterioration of various elements of the system and the technical difficulty in their repair: “The team witnessed the damage of various electrical equipment in the area of the maneuvering area due to the recent bombings and that repairs to some of this equipment would take a long timebecause the spare parts were made to measure “.
With information from agencies.
Source: Clarin
