The “physical integrity” of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in south-eastern Ukraine has been “violated”, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said, as he voiced his fears for the site.
Rafael Grossi led a team of inspectors to the Russian-controlled plant that has been frequently shelled in recent weeks, raising fears of a nuclear incident.
“It is obvious that the plant and physical integrity of the plant has been violated several times,” Grossi told reporters after he returned with part of his team to the Ukrainian-controlled area on Thursday.
“I worried, I worry and I will continue to be worried about the plant,” he said, while adding that the situation was “more predictable” now.
“We have spent there four or five hours. I have seen a lot, and I have my people there, we were able to tour the whole site,” Grossi said about the long-anticipated inspection.
He said that part of his 14-strong mission to the plant would stay at the facility “until Sunday or Monday, continuing with the assessment”.
“We are not going anywhere. The IAEA is now there, it is at the plant and it is not moving – it’s going to stay there.”
Grossi said a group of IAEA experts had stayed behind at the plant and would provide an impartial, neutral and technically sound assessment of the situation.
“We are going to continue presence there, some of my experts. We have a lot of work there, to do analysis of some technical aspects,” Grossi said. The IAEA would assess physical damage to the plant, ensure its safety and security systems were functional and evaluate the conditions of the facility’s staff, he said.
A report would be produced on their findings, Grossi added.
The UN nuclear chief did not specify how many people would be staying at the facility, adding: “We could draw up a number of questions and initial observations, initial assessments, and they are going to dig deeper into that so that we could have a report.”
The Ukrainian energy minister, German Galushchenko, said on Thursday it was being discussed that certain IAEA specialists – “up to two individuals” – would be permanently stationed at the plant.
“But it is important for us that the station must be under national control, meaning that the station must be returned to the control of Ukraine,” he told Ukraine’s 1+1 television channel.
Describing said the security situation was “pretty difficult” during his visit. “There were moments where fire was obvious, heavy machine gun, artillery, mortars two or three times – we were very concerned.”
But he noted that the mission received “splendid support from the UN security team”.
“I think we showed that international community is there, could be there and we will be continuing this,” Grossi said.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – Europe’s largest nuclear facility – has faced repeated shelling in recent weeks, with Kyiv and Moscow blaming each other for the attacks, raising concerns of a possible disaster.
On Thursday, a dawn shelling attack on the area forced one of the plant’s six reactors to shut down.
Energoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear agency, said it was “the second time in 10 days” that Russian shelling had forced the closure of a reactor.
It said the plant’s emergency protection system kicked in shortly before 5am (2am GMT), shutting reactor five, with the attack damaging a back-up power supply.
In a video address late on Thursday, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, reiterated his frequent calls that all troops be removed from the plant.
“The main thing that must happen is the demilitarisation of the station’s territory,” he said. “Demilitarisation and full control of Ukrainian nuclear workers.”
With Agence France-Presse
