SIRIUS /Federal Territory/, September 1. /TASS/. The participation of the IAEA mission has greatly contributed to the absence of direct strikes against Zaporozhye NPP since November 2022, Alexey Likhachev, the CEO of Rosatom state corporation, told the media after an open lesson within the framework of the educational marathon arranged by the Russian society Znaniye (Knowledge).
"We are very grateful to the IAEA mission and the world nuclear agency in general for serious interaction and for supporting our work in Zaporozhye. It is largely their achievement that there have been no direct strikes against the NPP since last November," Likhachev said.
He recalled that today marked the first anniversary of the beginning of the mission's work on the territory of Zaporozhye NPP. Currently five IAEA specialists are present at the power plant.
The permanent presence of IAEA experts at the Zaporozhye NPP was established following the first visit of the organization's Director General Rafael Grossi to the plant in September 2022. The participating parties then agreed that several experts from the agency would be permanently present at the facility. They are replaced approximately every month.
The 6 GW Zaporozhye NPP is located in Energodar. With its six reactors it is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. The facility was taken over by Russian forces in late February 2022. Since then, the Ukrainian army has periodically attacked both residential areas of Energodar and the territory of the plant itself, using drones, heavy artillery and multiple rocket launchers.