Mr Grossi said he will be the one leading the IAEA mission which “must protect the safety and security of Ukraine’s and Europe’s biggest nuclear facility.”
The IAEA said the mission is expected to assess physical damage at the station, determine the functionality of safety and security systems, evaluate staff working conditions, and perform urgent safeguards activities.
The development can be seen as a breakthrough because the IAEA has been calling for a mission to Zaporizhzhia since April 2022 following another such mission at Chernobyl, after the plant had been liberated from Russian occupation.
Russian troops captured the six-unit Zaporizhzhia station, responsible for up to 20% of Ukraine’s energy needs, on 4 March 2022, but it is still run by Ukrainian technicians. Most recently, Kyiv has accused Russia of persistently shelling the station, but Moscow has said the shelling has come from Ukrainian forces.
Mr Grossi said last week that these incidents show why the IAEA must be able to send a mission to Zaporizhzhia very soon and warned of the risks of a major radiological accident at the site.
Gaining access to the site needed the approval of the Russian side, which has de facto control over the facility, and the legal owner of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s nuclear operator Energoatom.
Shelling Continues As Staff Works Under Pressure
Energoatom warned in a statement today that its staff at Zaporizhzhia is “under increased pressure” to not disclose incriminating evidence against the occupying force to the forthcoming IAEA mission. Russia has not commented.
Energoatom has been regularly reporting to the IAEA of deteriorating working conditions and increased stress levels for its operators at Zaporizhzhia, one of the reasons the UN agency had been pushing for an onsite visit.
The company said there had been renewed shelling over the weekend and several damaged non-nuclear facilities, but without any safety systems being impacted.
Two of the six reactor units at Zaporizhzhia are commercially operational and produce power in Ukraine’s grid after being temporarily disconnected last week due to the loss of a 750 kilovolt (kV) external power line as a result of shelling. Off-site power supply has now been restored.
With two units at Zaporizhzhia returned to operation, ten of Ukraine’s 15 nuclear energy reactors are connected to the grid. They are: two at Zaporizhzhia, three at Rivne, three at South Ukraine and two at the Khmelnitski.
