VIENNA, January 20. /TASS/. Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi pledged on Friday to continue efforts to ensure that a safety zone be created around the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant.
"Everybody agrees that the plant - located on the frontline in an active combat area - needs to be protected, but these are very complex negotiations. I will not stop until the much-needed zone is a reality. I will continue my intensive consultations with both Ukraine and the Russian Federation in the coming days and weeks," Grossi said in a statement posted on the IAEA website on Friday.
"This major nuclear power plant continues to face daily dangers. Our team there continues to hear explosions close to the site, including two on Thursday," he added.
The Zaporozhye NPP, located in the city of Energodar, has a capacity of 6 GW and is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. Russian forces took control of the plant in late February 2022 and ever since, the Ukrainian army has been periodically shelling its territory, as well as Energodar’s residential quarters with the use of drones, heavy artillery and multiple rocket launchers.
An IAEA mission, led by its Director General Rafael Grossi, visited the plant in early September 2022. Several agency employees remained at the nuclear plant as observers after the mission departed. In its report issued after the visit, the IAEA called for the immediate establishment of a safety zone around the Zaporozhye plant to prevent a possible "nuclear incident" triggered by hostilities. The IAEA chief is negotiating the project with the Russian and Ukrainian sides. On October 11, he visited St. Petersburg to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Addressing an international conference in Rome on December 2, Grossi said that an agreement on a security zone around the ZNPP was within reach.