SEVERSK (Tomsk Region), August 4. /TASS/. Rosatom appreciates the objective, unbiased approach taken by the mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Director General Rafael Grossi, in their work at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Alexey Likhachev, CEO of the Russian state nuclear power operator, told reporters.

On Thursday, another rotation of IAEA mission observers took place at the plant. A new group of four inspectors, who will observe and assess safety conditions at the plant, arrived to start their work, relieving the previous team.

"We facilitate the most convenient [conditions for] gathering information, which is immediately made available to the world community. We regularly ‘synchronize our watches’ [by discussing all issues] and provide mutual assessments of each other's work. In general, we are very eager for cooperation and we see a very great leadership role [being played by] both [IAEA] Director General [Rafael] Grossi and the entire staff of IAEA inspectors, [whose] professional, unbiased approach under the mandate to really ensure the safety of the Zaporozhye NPP and to inform the world community of the real state of affairs [at the plant]," Likhachev said.

He added that the mission's agenda is constantly expanding. "The number of issues that they are studying, the number of topics that they are discussing with our staff is increasing. I think that by September at the latest we will have an opportunity to reconcile positions with the IAEA Director General once again, to discuss all issues and, perhaps, to expand our work in some respects," Likhachev pointed out.

The permanent presence of IAEA experts at the Zaporozhye NPP was established after the first visit of the organization's Director General, Rafael Grossi, to the plant in September 2022. Then, the parties agreed that several experts from the agency will be permanently stationed at the ZNPP, and will serve on a rotational basis, being replaced by a new group approximately every month. Since June 2023, the number of IAEA experts at the ZNPP has increased from two to four. Today's rotation of observers is the ninth since the mission began its work .

The ZNPP, located in Energodar, has six power units with a total capacity of 6 GW. It is Europe‘s largest nuclear power generating facility. At the end of February 2022, the facility was taken over by Russian forces. Since then, Ukrainian army units have periodically shelled both residential areas in Energodar and the plant itself using drones, heavy artillery and multiple rocket launchers.