After his visit to the Ukrainian nuclear site, the director general of the IAEA describes, in a report published on Tuesday, an “untenable” situation, while the bombings continue nearby.
by
Rafael Mariano Grossi has not stopped, since the start of the war, to assert his “serious concern” about the Zaporijia nuclear power plant, taken in the front line. His visit to the installations in Ukraine, after months of remote control, only confirmed his concerns: in A report published Tuesday, September 6 , the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (AIEA) describes an “untenable” situation and calls for the establishment of a “protection zone” around the site. “We play with fire and something really, really catastrophic could happen,” he said shortly after the United Nations Security Council.
This UN agency report provides precise information on the state of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and its staff, while neither the IEA inspectors nor those of the Ukrainian security authority had not been able to go to the scene since the beginning of March. After months of negotiations, Mr. Grossi and his team finally obtained the green light from kyiv and Moscow to visit the site, the 1 er September, in complicated security conditions.
Once in Zaporijia, international experts could only note the extent of the damage caused by bombing and fighting. A building housing new fuel, the roof of the one where the worn fuel transport vehicle is located or the container protecting the radiation monitoring system, for example, have been damaged. On September 3, when she was continuing her mission, the AIAA team herself received the order to take refuge in the ground floor of the administrative building while bombing took place nearby.
“Moral imperative”
So far, these events have not triggered “nuclear emergency”, notes the AIEA. However, they represent “a constant threat”, critical functions for safety, such as confinement of radioactivity and cooling of reactors, which can be impacted. Staff could have been killed or injured, adds the report.
If he did not call for a “demilitarization” of the area, Rafael Mariano Grossi said he was ready to immediately start consultations to reach the establishment of a “protection zone”. “This can be done now, we have inspectors who work, and we have the moral imperative to prevent an accident from happening,” he insisted.
You have 50.7% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.