An international mission of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived on Wednesday in Zaporozhye in southeastern Ukraine, where they will begin their work tomorrow to inspect a nuclear power plant.
“Today, at about three o’clock in the afternoon, the IAEA mission arrived in Zaporozhye” in UN vehicles, the Ukrainian nuclear agency Energoatom reports in its Telegram account.
Tomorrow, inspectors from the UN nuclear agency are expected to begin work at the plant, which in recent weeks has been subjected to constant bombing and artillery shelling, for which Kyiv and Moscow blame each other.
avoid disaster
The mission of UN experts will focus on preventing a nuclear accident at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, he said as soon as he arrived in Zaporozhye Rafael Grossi, CEO IAEAwho personally leads a team of 14 technical specialists of the organization.
“My mission is a technical mission aimed at preventing a nuclear accident and preserving the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. That’s what we’re focusing on,” Grossi said during the inspectors’ brief stay in the city. Zaporozhyelocated about 120 kilometers from the plant.
As for whether he trusts the Russian military to be able to give them access to determine the situation at the plant, the head of the department IAEA He said the team is made up of “very experienced” security and safeguards experts and they will be able to get a very good idea of what’s going on.
The Argentine diplomat specified that one of the tasks would be to talk with the Ukrainian personnel operating the nuclear power plant, which, according to the agency, is subjected to enormous physical and mental stress.
FROM ZaporozhyeThe 14 members of the mission will travel to Energodar, a Ukrainian city under the control of Russian troops where the plant is located.
According to Grossi, the visit to the plant will initially last several days, although the pro-Russian authorities in Energodar expected it to last only one day.
Permanent establishment?
Grossi believed in the possibility of establishing a permanent representative office at the nuclear power plant, a matter that is “under discussion”, confirmed in Moscow.
IAEA arrived at Russian-occupied nuclear facility in Zaporozhye | Font: EFE
“Let’s first look at the first results of their stay there. They (specialists from IAEA) has not even reached the place yet. But this is not ruled out,” said Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Andrey Rudenko.
The diplomat stressed that Russia hopes that the arrival of the mission IAEA a Zaporozhye “help to really assess” the situation at the plant.
Russian Ambassador to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov, in turn, assured that “Russia welcomes the intention” IAEA leave their representatives at the nuclear power plant.
At the same time, the Russian Ministry of Defense accused the Ukrainian authorities of trying to disrupt the mission of inspectors to the plant with new strikes on the facility, which could reach the “solid radioactive waste processing building.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of not stopping “provocations” in the places through which inspectors must pass to get to the power plant. Zaporozhye.
“The risk of a radiation catastrophe due to Russia’s actions does not decrease for one hour,” said Zelensky, who again demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from the nuclear power plant.
Ukrainian authorities also accused Moscow troops of shelling Energodar on the eve of the arrival of technicians from OIEBUT.
Nuclear Threat Exercise
Meanwhile, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine announced the conduct of exercises in the Dnieper in connection with a possible nuclear catastrophe, which would lead to the contamination of the territory of the Dnepropetrovsk region, neighboring Zaporozhye.
The training focused on issues related to the evacuation of the population in the event that Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is damaged as a result of ongoing hostilities.
The exercise consisted of theoretical and practical tasks, including the use of special equipment, radiation monitoring devices and disinfection of vehicles.
The European Union (EU) announced on Tuesday the delivery of 5.5 million tablets of potassium iodide to Ukraine to protect the country’s population from possible exposure.
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Source: RPP
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