The IAEA publishes a report on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
This Tuesday, September 6, is an important day to understand the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russian forces.
“On Tuesday, Rafael Grossi will publish a report on the situation regarding security, protection and guarantees in Ukraine, in particular the results of his mission to Zaporizhia and he will report to the UN Security Council on the mission carried out at the plant,” tweeted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Monday evening, referring to its director-general.
Its release comes the day after the shutdown of the last operational reactor at the plant in the south of the country. That line, which is connected to a neighboring thermal power plant, was “deliberately disconnected to extinguish a fire,” the IAEA said in a press release. But “it wasn’t damaged” and it should be reconnected as soon as possible.
According to the Ukrainian operator Energoatom, the fire was caused “by the bombing”. The site of Europe’s largest power plant has been bombed several times, fueling fears of a nuclear catastrophe. For several weeks, Russians and Ukrainians have been blaming each other for these bombings.
After lengthy negotiations, a delegation from the UN agency was able to visit the site of this plant on Thursday, which has six reactors with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts each and had fallen into the hands of Russian troops in March shortly after the start of the invasion of Ukraine. After an inspection with his team, Mr. Grossi told the press that he found the “physical integrity” of the facility had been “violated on several occasions”. It was “something that can’t continue to happen,” he added, without naming who was responsible.
The next day, Kyiv said it had attacked a Russian base in Energodar, a town neighboring the power plant, from where it accused Russia of withdrawing its arms ahead of its inspection by the UN agency delegation.
Most of the IAEA team left the facility on Friday. Of the six experts who stayed on site, four left on Monday morning, with two others expected to stay there permanently.
On the diplomatic side, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin his mediation on Saturday. Emmanuel Macron reiterated on Monday during an interview with Mr Zelensky, according to the French Presidency, “the imperative need to safeguard the security” of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities.