The IAEA’s director general, who has returned from Ukraine, said he was “worried” about the Russian-controlled nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, which the UN body could not access after the invasion.
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Speaking at a press conference at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna, Rafael Crozi said, “This is at the top of my list of concerns regarding the condition of nuclear power plants in Ukraine.”
The site “is still under Russian control and has no control over the Ukrainian regulator, but in terms of inspection, surveillance and security, we need to do a limited number of tasks as soon as possible,” he said.
“We must return to Zaporizhia, which is very important,” he said.
With this in mind, he held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky during his visit.
“Our consultations continue, above all with Ukraine but also with Russia,” he said, referring to the meeting with Russian officials “in a few days”.
According to Ukrainian officials, earlier this week, when asked about the site’s shallow flight by missiles at low altitudes, Mr. Crossey said he “received the videos.” “We are in the process of verifying, but if such growth is confirmed, it will be very serious.”
He also noted the situation in Chernobyl, where he visited on Tuesday, 36 years after the worst civilian nuclear disaster in history.
He then determined the amount of radiation in the “normal range”, which he reiterated on Thursday.
Troops sent by Moscow to capture the plant on February 24, the first day of the Russian invasion, dug vehicles, equipment and trenches in the contaminated land, saying, “This naturally led to an increase in radiation.
“But this situation does not pose a great danger to the environment and the people,” said Rafael Grossi.
A Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded in 1986, polluting much of Europe, especially Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. The 30-kilometer radius around the plant is classified as an “exclusion zone”, the area is still highly polluted and people are banned from living there.
In Ukraine, in addition to waste repositories such as Chernobyl, there are 15 reactors in four operating plants.
