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IAEA chief calls current situation at ZNPP stable ahead of visit there

The IAEA is concerned about the reduction of the power plant's staff from 12,000 to 2,000-3,000, Rafael Grossi said

Director General of the IAEA Rafael Grossi AP Photo/Matthias Schrader

Director General of the IAEA Rafael Grossi

© AP Photo/Matthias Schrader

NEW YORK, February 6. /TASS/. Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi believes that the situation at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP) is stable, he told the AP in an interview ahead of his trip to Russia and the plant.

"So far, the situation [on the ZNPP] is stable, but it is a very, very delicate equilibrium," he said. The plant "requires constant care" from the IAEA, Grossi added.

The IAEA is concerned about the reduction of the power plant's staff from 12,000 to 2,000-3,000, Grossi said. However, Russia has assured the agency that it is actively recruiting staff to man the ZNPP. Grossi said that his visit to the power plant would clear up what is really going on there. The IAEA director general added that the mine barriers near the ZNPP, which were installed to protect it from Ukrainian saboteurs, do "not pose an immediate danger to the facility."

Grossi previously announced his intention to visit "Zaporozhye, Kiev and Russia" in the near future. Alexey Likhachev, CEO of Russia’s Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, said later that he expected to meet with the IAEA director general soon. Before his trip to the ZNPP, Grossi held talks with Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko in Kiev on February 6.

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