Nuclear Threat Escalates: IAEA Experts Denied Access to Russian-Occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP, Largest in Europe
The Russian occupation forces again did not allow IAEA experts to visit the isolation gate of the ZNPP cooling pond during their rounds. This is stated in the latest IAEA report.
The nuclear safety situation at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) remains extremely unstable with "very real" potential threats of a major accident, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi told the UN Security Council.
"There has not been a nuclear accident yet. This is true. But complacency can lead us to a tragedy. This should not happen. We must do everything in our power to minimise the risks of this happening," he said.
Briefing the 15-member Security Council on the development of five specific principles to safeguard Europe's largest nuclear power plant since its establishment last May, he stressed the importance of his experts on site being given the access they need to monitor compliance with these principles.
Director General Grossi announced that he would cross the front line to visit ZNPP "within the next two weeks", allowing him to assess the situation first-hand some eight months after his previous mission to the Russian-occupied Ukrainian ZNPP.
During other rounds last week, IAEA experts visited the reactor hall of Unit 3, as well as the safety rooms of Units 3 and 5. Small deposits of boric acid were found in one of the safety systems rooms at Unit 3.
Regarding the boric acid deposits at Unit 6, the regulatory authority of the occupying Russian Federation issued a "special order" on 20 January to repair the leak in the unit's storage tank.
The Russian-occupied ZNPP informed the IAEA experts of its intention to repair the microcracks in the tank, which will require draining it. Borated water is used in the primary coolant to maintain nuclear safety functions.
The IAEA team also inspected the 750 kilovolt (kV) open distribution power plant, where it confirmed that only one power line is connected to the grid, compared to four before the Russian war. The components of the power plant that were damaged in 2022 were dismantled, but spare parts were available.
As The Gaze previously reported, in December 2023, the IAEA returned its observation mission to the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, ZNPP, which is located in Ukraine, occupied by Russia.
Since then, Russian nuclear blackmail has begun: Russian occupation forces have been preventing the IAEA from accessing the ZNPP.