MELITOPOL, March 29. /TASS/. Wednesday’s visit to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) by International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi and his delegation will continue for less than one day, a Russian nuclear official has told TASS.
"The delegation, led by Grossi, will arrive at the NPP in the morning and will leave it in the evening," Renat Karchaa, an advisor to the chief executive of Russia’s Rosenergoatom nuclear power plant operator, said on Tuesday.
Karchaa will lead the three-member Russian delegation that will meet with IAEA inspectors at the facility.
The international team will cross the Russian-Ukrainian border in Vasilyevka, he added.
Commenting on Grossi’s remarks that the situation at the Zaporozhye NPP has been tense, the Russian official said that "tensions have never subsided."
"The lull and the fact that the NPP is not being shelled at present should absolutely not be treated as a reason to relax. The Ukrainian side keeps planning a violent takeover of the NPP, so we must not lower our guard when dealing with those people. That said, the situation is indeed tense," Karchaa said.
Grossi’s second visit to the Zaporozhye nuclear facility is expected on March 29. He is going to inspect the nuclear power plant’s security level and stress the necessity to protect it under the conditions of hostilities. The upcoming visit is also supposed to ensure the regular rotation of IAEA experts at the nuclear station after once it was delayed for almost a month. Following Grossi’s first trip in September 2022, the permanent presence of the IAEA experts has been ensured at the station.
Karchaa earlier told TASS that Grossi’s visit would coincide with the rotation of IAEA inspectors at the plant. The IAEA delegation lists 18 members.