All news

IAEA wants to establish security zone around ZNPP as soon as possible

According to the agency, the situation around the nuclear plant "continues to be dangerous and unpredictable"

VIENNA, February 21. /TASS/. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Monday it will continue efforts to implement the idea of establishing a safety and security zone around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant due to the risks of shelling attacks.

"In view of persistent nuclear safety and security risks, the Director General said he remains determined to agree and implement a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the ZNPP as soon as possible, even though the negotiations with Ukraine and the Russian Federation have made slower progress than he had hoped for," it said in a statement posted on its website. According to the agency, the situation around the nuclear plant "continues to be dangerous and unpredictable" as "the sound of more artillery fire" was heard "close to the ZNPP on Sunday."

An IAEA mission, led by its Director General Rafael Grossi, visited the Zaporozhye NPP 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 first rotation of IAEA experts took place in October 2022.

Grossi held talks with Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev in Moscow on February 9 to discuss the establishment of a security zone around the ZNPP. After the talks, Likhachev pledged that Russia would act absolutely transparently for the IAEA in what concerns its actions at the Zaporozhye NPP and expressed the hope for the soonest beginning of practical implementation of the security zone idea.