Ukraine calls on IAEA to visit Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in August

DANA HORDIICHUK – MONDAY, 8 AUGUST 2022, 20:59

Ukraine has called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an autonomous international organisation within the UN, to visit the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) by the end of August. The Russians have claimed that they are planting mines at the nuclear facilities and are threatening to blow it up.

Source: Energoatom on Telegram, quoting Yevhen Tsymbaliuk, representative of Ukraine to international organisations in Vienna

Details: Tsymbaliuk said that the Russian army has attacked the ZNPP in order to cause a power outage in southern Ukraine. He called on the IAEA to visit the station before the end of the month.

"We will use all diplomatic channels available to us in order to bring the IAEA and the UN closer to the implementation of this mission," Tsymbalyuk said. "We really need this visit to take place urgently, as soon as possible. I would say no later than the end of this month."

Earlier, the IAEA stated that the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was completely out of the agency’s control and that "every principle of nuclear safety has been violated" at the plant.

Background:

According to Energoatom, the Russians are blackmailing the whole world, claiming that they are planting mines on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia NPP and are ready to blow it up.

On the evening of 6 August, Russian forces fired rockets at Energodar, hitting the ZNPP site directly next to the station’s dry storage of spent nuclear fuel.

On 4 March, Russian troops captured the territory of the Zaporizhzhia NPP and established control over the plant’s administrative buildings and the entrance checkpoint.

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