The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi announced on Monday in a message on Twitter that the agency’s team is on its way to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
The IAEA’s Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya would arrive at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – which has been the target of strikes in recent weeks – later this week.
The team’s mission is to assess the damage caused by the recent shelling near the plant, evaluate the working conditions of the Ukrainian staff and determine of the plant’s safety & security systems functionality.
The upcoming visit of Grossi to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which the IAEA chief has been demanding for months warning of the very real risk of a nuclear disaster, was welcomed by the G7’s Non-Proliferation Directors’ Group.
The group has also reiterated Grossi’s concerns about the plant’s safety under the control of Russian armed forces, stressing in its statement that Moscow’s attempts to disconnect the plant from the Ukrainian power grid would be unacceptable.
They also noted that both the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and the electricity that it produces rightly belong to Ukraine.
As per the statement of Russia’s permanent representative to the international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, on Monday, Russia also welcomes the upcoming IAEA mission that Russia had made a significant contribution to.
After the latest strikes on Saturday, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant’s Ukraine operator Energoatom warned of the risk of radioactive leaks and fire, informing at the same time that due to Russian troops’ actions, the plant was cut off from Ukraine’s national power grid between Thursday and Friday – the first time in its four-decade history.
After the initial fears that an IAEA visit would legitimize the Russian occupation of the site, Ukraine finally supported the idea of a mission.