A new team of International Atomic Energy Agency personnel crossed the frontlines in Ukraine this week to perform nuclear safety and security missions at the besieged Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant.
It is the thirteenth such mission since the IAEA last year established a permanent presence at the site to help prevent a nuclear accident during the military conflict, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.
Last Thursday – when the IAEA teams swapped out – there were Russian reports of drone attacks in the town of Enerhodar, where many plant staff live, the IAEA said.
IAEA teams have heard explosions almost continually for weeks at a distance from the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest.
“For fourteen months now, we have had IAEA experts present at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, monitoring nuclear safety and security and informing the world about developments there,” Grossi said. “Their work is vital for efforts to keep this major nuclear facility safe and protect people and the environment in Ukraine and beyond. However, the risk remains. Our important work continues as long as it is necessary.”
Over the past week, the IAEA experts have continued to perform inspections at the site, visiting its facilities for storing fresh fuel, the emergency diesel generators of unit 1, the open switchyard of the 750-kilovolt power line, the central warehouse and the temporary emergency response center, the IAEA said.
The team has been informed by Russian occupiers and plant staff that an emergency exercise is planned for November, the first since before the conflict.
IAEA staff have also visited the plant’s cooling pond, where they observed cleaning of the outlet channel of the cooling towers. The IAEA team was informed that the current shutdown status of the ZNPP’s six reactors provided an opportunity to perform this cleaning work.
