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IAEA chief says concern over Zaporozhye NPP getting `bigger every day’

It is reported that the shelling continues

NEW DELHI, November 14. /TASS/. The situation around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is becoming an increasingly bigger concern amid continued shelling and interruptions of external power, Rafael Grossi, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in an interview with the Indian Express.

"[The concern] is bigger every day. Continued shelling. Regular interruptions of external power. <…> <...> But constant diesel generators running for a few hours, or may be some days… then you have the power back and there is a sigh of relief… but then it starts again three days later," the IAEA chief told the Indian newspaper.

According to Grossi, the Zaporozhye NPP "is a drama," and "a tragedy that we need to avoid."

The IAEA is supporting three power plants - in Ukraine’s Rovno and Khmelnitsky and the South Ukraine NPP - upon request from the Ukrainian government, Grossi said. These nuclear facilities are "as safe as they can be in a war," he added.

The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, came under control of Russian troops on February 28 and has been operating normally ever since. An IAEA delegation led by Grossi traveled to the plant in early September. It left observers at the facility, then published a report calling for the establishment of a safety zone around the plant to prevent accidents that could arise due to the hostilities.