VIENNA, March 9. /TASS/. The secretariat of the International Atomic Energy Agency continues to ignore the data that Russia has been providing about the real state of affairs at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s envoy to Vienna-based international organizations, said on Thursday.

"We note with regret that the secretariat continues to ignore the data that Russia has been providing concerning the real state of affairs at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. Of course, the most egregious thing in this context is how the fact that the Ukrainian side has been shelling the ZNPP over the reporting period has been hushed up," he said at a meeting of the IAEA board of governors. "Such shelling is the main risk factor for the nuclear security and physical nuclear safety (PNS) of Europe’s largest nuclear energy facility."

The diplomat said that "no less disappointing is the fact that all of the efforts of the Russian side to ensure the security of the ZNPP in the reports are either ignored altogether or mentioned solely in the context of the lack of agreement with the Ukrainian regulator."

"At the same time, their [the Russian side’s] real positive impact on strengthening nuclear safety and the plant’s PNS is downplayed," Ulyanov said.

The envoy said that, "as previously, the reports [of IAEA specialists] are marked by the one-sided presentation of information."

"They contain some information that doesn’t pertain to the mandate of the agency," Ulyanov said. The authors of the reports, he said, "euphemistically make use of impersonal formulations, e.g. 'the mobile boilers have arrived,' 'power lines have been restored,' 'trucks with spare parts have arrived.'"

"As if all this happens by itself and is not carried out by the Russian side," the Russian diplomat said.

In conclusion, Ulyanov emphasized the fact that "the IAEA nuclear safety standards and the agency's guidance materials in the field of PNS contain recommendations that dangerous munitions should not be placed and stored at nuclear power plants."

"The Ukrainian side should fully acknowledge this, and the IAEA personnel at the Rovne, South-Ukrainian and Khmelnytskaya plants, as well as at the former Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, should pay special attention to this aspect of things," the diplomat said.

"We also note the efforts of the agency's secretariat to provide additional access to the Institute for Nuclear Research in Kiev, the Eastern Mining and Processing Plant in Zhyoltye Vody and the Yuzhny Mechanical Engineering Plant in Dnepropetrovsk in connection with our country’s suspicions concerning undeclared nuclear activities at these facilities pertaining to the manufacture of a ‘dirty bomb,’" Ulyanov said. However, he expressed the opinion that "the Kiev regime could build a ‘dirty bomb’ not only at those facilities that are visited by IAEA inspectors."

"Therefore, we call on the agency to remain vigilant," the diplomat said.

The Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, located in the city of Energodar, has a capacity of about 6 GW and is Europe’s largest. It has been controlled by Russian troops since late February 2022. Since then, Ukrainian army units have periodically shelled both residential areas in Energodar and the premises of the NPP itself, using drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems.

An IAEA mission led by Director General Rafael Grossi traveled to the ZNPP in September 2022 and left several agency employees onsite as observers. Afterward, the agency published a report calling for the establishment of a safety zone around the ZNPP to prevent accidents arising from hostilities. The expert team at the ZNPP underwent its first rotation in October.

Grossi said on March 9 that the ZNPP had had its power supply fully cut off for the first time since November, and that it had enough diesel fuel for electric generators to last 15 days. He said eight out of 20 available generators were working to provide electricity to the plant, while others remain on standby.