IAEA Director General Grossi arrives on the territory of the Zaporozhye NPP in Energodar

ENERGODAR, 29 March – RIA Novosti. According to the RIA Novosti correspondent, Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), arrived in the city of Energodar and on the territory of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant.

Currently, the Director-General of the IAEA is on a working visit to the ZNPP region and is accompanied by the plant management and responsible technical personnel. The situation in the city remains calm.

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 the number of units and installed capacity – the power 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. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the Kiev regime was trying to create the appearance of a nuclear catastrophe threat by continuing to deliberately bomb the ZNPP. The IAEA has repeatedly expressed the need to create a security zone around the ZNPP.

This is Grossi’s second visit to the nuclear power plant and his first since establishing a permanent presence of IAEA experts at the ZNPP on September 1 last year. As announced at the IAEA, Grossi will travel to the ZNPP “to personally assess the serious situation regarding nuclear security at the facility and to highlight the urgent need to protect the facility during the ongoing military conflict in the country.” The CEO himself noted that he plans to assess the situation and talk to those who operate the plant in difficult conditions. He also stated that he is continuing to work on a proposal to preserve the station.

As Renat Karchaa, Advisor to the General Manager of Rosenergoatom Concern, said earlier on TV channel Rossiya 24, the situation in Russia’s ZNPP is open to discussion with the Director-General of the IAEA during his upcoming visit to the station.