Ukraine: IAEA inspects Zaporizhia NPP and notes ‘continued’ presence [VIDEO]

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Thursday conducted an inspection of the Ukrainian Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, controlled by Russian troops, after which the head of the expert mission, Rafael Grossi, decided to establish a “continued” presence at the plant and leave part of his team there until at least Saturday.

The experts who inspected the facilities were accompanied by representatives of Rosatom and factory workers, according to the official Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

Grossi, Director General of the IAEA, left the premises after about two hours and explained that in that time he and 13 other experts “were able to gather a lot of information” during their first visit to key areas.

Some IAEA experts remain

The Argentinean explained that he was leaving, but some “IAEA experts will remain at the plant.”

“We are finishing our long-awaited visit to the nuclear power plant in Zaporozhye (…). Of course, there is still a lot to be done. My team remains. And more importantly, we are establishing a permanent IAEA presence here,” he later said in a video posted on his Twitter account.

Grossi did not specify how many specialists he keeps at the plant and for how long, and also did not specify whether he is talking about the permanent presence of the IAEA at the plant. Zaporozhye what President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky demanded and what he himself declared upon arrival as “necessary to stabilize the situation and regularly obtain reliable and impartial data.”

As stated in his Telegram account, the state-owned nuclear energy company UkraineEnergoatom, “five representatives of the IAEA remained” and “it is expected that they will be at the nuclear power plant until September 3.”

As the head of the pro-Russian administration of the city of Energodar, Alexander Volga, told the Russian Interfax news agency, the remaining specialists will be accommodated in a local hotel.

The rest of the delegation, including Grossi, had to leave Russian-controlled territory by 2000 Moscow time (1700 GMT), he added, which they had already done.

During the visit, according to Russian officials, some residents of Russian-controlled Energodar conveyed to Grossi a call to “stop provocations by Ukraine against nuclear power plants” and a fragment of an allegedly Ukrainian missile.

High risk path

The mission arrived shortly before 2:30 pm (local time) at the nuclear power plant, which has been under constant attack in recent weeks that has jeopardized nuclear safety and which Russia and Ukraine.

Literally today, one of the two reactors remaining in operation was put out of action by emergency mechanisms “in connection with another mortar attack on Russian invaders,” and the backup power supply line used for internal needs was also damaged, Energoatom reported.

“This is the second time in the last 10 days that the criminal actions of the Russian military led to the closure of the block and the blackout of the plant,” he said.

The missionary trip that arrived the day before in ZaporozhyeGrossi said the plant, located about 120 kilometers from the Ukrainian city of Energodar, “was not easy” as it was a “high risk” due to escalating fighting in the area.

However, the Argentine felt that there were “minimum conditions for a move” and that “having come this far” the team “wasn’t going to stop”.

intersection of accusations

From the first hour, both Kyiv and Moscow crossed paths with accusations of shelling the plant, Energodar and the route along which the mission column was supposed to pass in order to prevent verification.

“Russia is defiantly bombing Energodar, the official route of the IAEA mission is to blame Ukraine. This is Russia’s “real” interest in verification,” Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine, wrote on Twitter.

The Ministry of Defense, in turn, accused Ukraine for the attack on the meeting place of the IAEA with the Russian side in Vasilievka near Energodar, for the bombing of the station and the dormitory in which it is located, and for the attempt to “seize” the power plant Zaporozhye with two sabotage groups of up to 60 people.

At the height of the fighting, the IAEA convoy was stopped for three hours at the Novoaleksandrovka checkpoint, about 20 kilometers from the front line, waiting for the situation to normalize in order to continue their journey.

The delay occurred in Ukrainian-controlled territory, according to agency spokesman Fredrik Dahl, who argued that Grossi had to personally negotiate with Ukrainian military authorities in order to proceed.

According to the pro-Russian leader of the region. ZaporozhyeEvgeny Balitsky, the Ukrainians would demand from the IAEA “documents on equipment safety guarantees and who accepted them.”

(As reported by EFE)

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