IAEA chief warns Russia against restarting occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP
Kyiv • UNN
The IAEA Director General has warned Russia against hastily resuming work at the occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine without conducting a safety assessment, as it is located in the area of active hostilities.
On Wednesday, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi warned Russia against any hasty resumption of the Zaporizhzhya NPP occupied by Russian troops in southern Ukraine, UNN reports citing Le Monde.
Details
Grossi said that before meeting with Vladimir Putin, he had "tense" discussions about the safety of nuclear power plants, Russian media reported.
On Wednesday, Grossi told AFP in Sochi, in southern Russia, that he had explained to his Russian interlocutors that any restart of the station "would require a number of serious considerations." "This is a war zone. A zone of active hostilities," the IAEA chief emphasized, recalling that the station had been shut down "for a long period" and that a number of safety assessments would be necessary.
Addendum
The IAEA chief has already met with Putin in October 2022 and visited Ukraine several times to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He called on Russia and Ukraine to "exercise maximum restraint" to avoid a nuclear accident. According to him, the situation at the plant remains "very worrying.