IAEA mission to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to focus on three objectives
"EUROPEAN PRAVDA" — MONDAY, 29 AUGUST 2022, 18:36
The mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will arrive in Kyiv on Monday and will start working at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in the coming days.
Source: Oleh Nikolenko, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
He reported that the IAEA formed a mission to visit the temporarily occupied ZNPP, responding to the invitation of the government of Ukraine. It includes 14 international experts. The mission is led by Rafael Grossi, the IAEA Director General.
The delegation of international experts has left Vienna and is scheduled to arrive in Kyiv on August 29.
This means that the mission will reach Enerhodar [where the ZNPP is located] from the territory controlled by the government of Ukraine.
The mission is expected to start working at the ZNPP in the coming days; it will focus on three tasks: physical protection, nuclear security, and guarantees of non-proliferation of nuclear materials.
Quote by Nikolenko: "Ukraine's position is clear: the occupation of the ZNPP by Russian troops and the delivery of a large amount of military equipment and ammunition to its territory in violation of all international rules exposes the nuclear plant to extreme danger, running the risk of a nuclear incident."
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, has said that Russia should immediately demilitarise the facility, withdraw military units, equipment and employees of Rosatom, and give control over the ZNPP back to the government of Ukraine.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expects that the IAEA will play an important role in achieving this goal.
Background: the situation at the ZNPP has been in the spotlight since the beginning of August, when the Russian military started shelling the plant. Russia has rejected calls for the demilitarisation of the nuclear plant, under the pretext of "protecting it" from provocations, and is now blaming Ukraine for the attacks.
The United Nations declared it was ready to facilitate the visit of the IAEA inspectors to Zaporizhzhia from Kyiv; however, Russia has insisted that the mission should not go through Kyiv.
On 23 August, Sergey Lavrov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, confirmed, in a conversation with his French counterpart, that his government said yes to the visit of the IAEA mission to the ZNPP.
On 25 August, for the first time in history, the ZNPP was completely disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid. Dmytro Orlov, the Mayor of Enerhodar, said that this happened after an attack, while Energoatom said that it was caused by fires.
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