IAEA Director-General Grossi plans to visit Moscow and Kiev next week

MOSCOW, 1 October – RIA Novosti. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi may visit Moscow and Kiev next week as part of efforts to create a nuclear safety and security zone around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.

Earlier, Grossi had stated that as a result of an agreement between Ukraine and Russia, a protective zone should be created around the ZNPP.

Zaporozhye NPP is located on the left bank of the Dnieper near the town of Energodar. This is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe in terms of number of units and installed capacity – the plant has six power units with a capacity of 1 gigawatt each. It has been under the protection of the Russian army since March. The Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized that this step is justified in order to prevent the leakage of nuclear and radioactive materials. The Ukrainian army continues to regularly bomb Enerhodar and the territory of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant adjacent to the city.

In early September, an IAEA mission led by Grossi arrived at ZNPP. The head of the “Rosatom” delegation and employees of the Zaporizhzhya NPP led the IAEA delegation on their territory, showing parts of the station that were damaged during the shelling of the Ukrainian troops. Two IAEA employees remained at ZNPP permanently. As a result of the mission’s visit, the IAEA published a report in which it confirmed the fact that the ZNPP was bombed.

On Friday, the agency reported another mine explosion near the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which damaged a low-voltage power cable outside the plant’s perimeter. But the nuclear safety of the facility was not in danger.