UN nuclear chief wants access to Ukraine plant
Grossi: Cooperation is vital to complete repairs
KYIV, Ukraine – The International Atomic Energy Agency’s director-general says the level of safety at Europe’s largest nuclear plant, currently under Russian occupation in Ukraine, is like a “red light blinking” as his organization tries in vain to get access for work including repairs.
Rafael Grossi, in an interview with The Associated Press, turned the focus to the nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhia – a day after the 36th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. That plant was also taken over by Russian forces.
Grossi said that the IAEA needs access to the Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine so its inspectors can, among other things, reestablish connections with the Vienna-based headquarters of the U.N. agency. For that, both Russia and Ukraine need to help.
The plant requires repairs, “and all of this is not happening. So the situation as I have described it, and I would repeat it today, is not sustainable as it is,” Grossi said. “So this is a pending issue. This is a red light blinking.”
He spoke Wednesday, a day after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the issue.
“Understandably, my Ukrainian counterparts do not want the IAEA inspectors to go to one of their own facilities under the authority of a third power,” Grossi said. “I had a long conversation about this with President Zelenskyy last night, and it’s something that will still require consultations. We are not there yet.”
The IAEA chief continues to press Russia’s government for access to the Zaporizhzhia plant.
“I don’t see movement in that direction as we speak,” he said. But he is meeting with the Russian side “soon.”
“There are two units that are active ... others that are in repairs or in cooldown. And there are some activities, technical activities and also inspection activities that need to be performed,” Grossi said.
Ukraine has 15 reactors and one of the largest nuclear power capacities in the world. Again and again since the invasion, nuclear experts have watched in alarm as Russian forces have come uncomfortably close to multiple nuclear plants in Ukraine.
A Chernobyl security worker told the AP that the Russians flew aircraft over the damaged reactor site and dug trenches in highly radioactive dirt.
On Monday, Russian cruise missiles flew over the Khmelnitsky nuclear plant
in western Ukraine.
“There cannot be any military action in or around a nuclear power plant,” Grossi said, adding that he has appealed to Russia about this.
“This is unprecedented to have a war unfolding amidst one of the world’s largest nuclear infrastructures, which, of course, makes for a number of fragile or weak points that could be, of course, exploited wittingly or unwittingly,” he added.
“So this requires a lot of activity on our side and cooperation. Cooperation from the Russian side. Understanding from the Ukrainian side so that we can avoid an accident.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, along with U.S. and European support for Ukraine in the conflict, has increased tensions between Russia and the West, but it’s “imperative for us to look for common denominators in spite of these difficulties,” he said.