The United Nations (UN) nuclear chief has warned that Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine “is completely out of control” and issued an urgent request to Russia and Ukraine to quickly allow experts to visit the complex so as to normalize the situation and avoid a nuclear accident.
On Tuesday, while giving an interview to Associated Press, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Rafael Grossi stated that the situation at the Zaporizhzhia plant in the city of Enerhodar in the country’s southeast, was becoming more dangerous every day.
He said, “Every principle of nuclear safety has been violated, what is at stake is extremely serious and extremely grave and dangerous.”
Grossi listed numerous instances of safety violations at the plant, adding that the plant is “in a place where active war is ongoing” and close to Russian-controlled territory.
He cited shelling at the start of the war when it was seized and ongoing reports from Ukraine and Russia accusing one another of attacks at Zaporizhzhia as evidence that the plant’s physical integrity had not been protected.
Grossi said that the supply chain of equipment and spare parts has been interrupted, and added, “So we are not sure the plant is getting all it needs.”
He said IAEA must conduct crucial inspections to guarantee that nuclear material is protected.
The IAEA needed to go to Zaporizhzhia, as it did to Chernobyl, to ascertain the facts of what was actually happening there, to carry out repairs and inspections, and “to prevent a nuclear accident from happening”, he stated.
The IAEA chief said him and his team needed protection to get to the plant and the urgent cooperation of Russia and Ukraine.
