VIENNA, November 4. /TASS/. The reduced number of staff and insufficient supply of spare parts could affect the safety of the Zaporozhye Nuclear power plant, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said.
"The reduced number of maintenance staff at the plant and the limited availability of all necessary spare parts have the potential to impact the operation of safety systems. It is essential that all necessary maintenance is performed," Grossi said in a statement on the agency’s website.
The IAEA said its experts "are also continuing to collect information on the status and condition of staff, as well as on the training and licensing of operating staff at the plant under Russian Federation regulations."
Over the past few months, Energodar, the city that’s home to the nuclear plant, has come under Ukrainian drone attacks multiple times. For example, on August 9, Russian forces intercepted a Ukrainian drone that was heading toward the nuclear plant, and on August 23, Ukrainian forces were able to hit an apartment building. On October 10, a Ukrainian drone strike on a power substation damaged a transformer, leaving Energodar without water supply for several hours. The next day, the head of Rosatom state corporation, Aleksey Likhachev, called the Ukrainian strike a violation of all IAEA safety principles because attacks on the city infrastructure and intimidation of people affect the condition of the plant's staff.
The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant has the capacity of about 6 GW and is Europe’s largest. It has been controlled by Russian troops since the end of February 2022.