Archive – July 3, 2023, Zaporizhzhia, Zaporizhzhia Region, Ukraine: The Zaporizhzhia – Enerhodar nuclear power plant from the right bank of the Dnieper near Nikopol, with the Kakhovka reservoir in the foreground, which has dried up since the destruction of the No – Europa Press/Contact/Nicolas Cleuet – Archive
MADRID, January 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations' nuclear agency, has reported that the interior of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine has been mined again, three months after it became aware that these explosive devices were first removed.
In its latest assessment of the situation at the power plant, which was a constant threat due to its vulnerability to attack during the war in Ukraine, the IAEA confirms the existence of these mines “along the perimeter of the power plant”, distributed “in an area between …”. “Interior and exterior fences” of the facility.
Mines like those placed in this area “that had been removed in November 2023 were replanted,” according to the evaluation published on the nuclear agency’s website.
The mined area is now a “restricted area and inaccessible to plant operating personnel,” the report says. In this sense, the agency's director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, denounces that “the presence of mines contradicts the IAEA safety standards”.
In addition, the IAEA recalls that the power supply to the power plant remains in serious jeopardy, as shown by events this week when the power plant “lost immediate emergency power to the reactor units for several hours.”
Restoring power took eight hours thanks to the activation of two additional electrical transformers.
“The vulnerable energy status of the facility remains one of the greatest threats to nuclear safety at the site,” explained Grossi, who judged that “the situation in this regard remains extremely worrying.” Since August 2022, the facility has been without external power up to eight times Power supply.