IAEA may prop up permanent post at Zaporozhye NPP: Chief
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The International Atomic Energy Agency says it is looking at establishing a permanent post at the Zaporozhye NPP.
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IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needs to determine the parameters of its mission to the Zaparozhye nuclear power plant (NPP), the agency's Director General, Rafael Grossi, said on Friday.
Grossi underlined that his agency may establish a permanent presence at the NPP, which has been the center of contention with Russia.
"This is a difficult mission ... We need to secure a route, we need to do it in coordination with [Russia and Ukraine]," the IAEA chief explained.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Friday it was actively consulting with all parties on sending a mission to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant as soon as possible.
"We also need to rely on the support of the UN and its armored vehicles to take us to the place ... We need to clearly define the parameters of the mission and, possibly, establish a permanent presence of the agency on the spot," Grossi told the RFI radio broadcaster in an interview.
The agency underlined that taking the seriousness of the situation into perspective, Grossi had reiterated the need to send a mission to carry out basic measures to ensure physical and nuclear security and safeguards at the facility.
Grossi had said Tuesday that an IAEA mission could head to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant within the next few days if the negotiations succeed.
France, IAEA receive security guarantees for ZNPP mission: Macron
France and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have received security guarantees from Russia and Ukraine to conduct a mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP), French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.
"Yesterday, we met with the director general of the IAEA [Rafael Grossi], also the other day I spoke with [Ukrainian and Russian] presidents [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and [Vladimir] Putin... We received security guarantees from the Ukrainian and Russian sides. Now there [at the ZNPP] an IAEA mission can be deployed, an independent mission that will be protected," Macron told reporters.
Kiev interrupts last transmission line from ZNPP: Zaporozhye Region Official
Kiev has interrupted the last transmission line of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to Ukraine, and it is impossible to supply electricity there, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the regional administration, said on Friday.
"Yesterday, as far as I know, the fourth line was interrupted, therefore it is physically impossible to transfer electricity to the right bank of the Dnieper [river] ... According to the information I have, this energy is not supplied [to Ukraine], there is no physical possibility to do this," Rogov told the Rossiya 1 broadcaster.
What you need to know
Russian forces have had complete control over the nuclear plant since March, but drone attacks by Ukrainian forces have regularly targeted the facility, leading Russia to request help from the IAEA to address security issues.
Two weeks ago, Russia accused the office of the United Nations Secretary-General of obstructing the work of IAEA experts and preventing them from visiting the Zaporozhye NPP in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow had underlined several times that a trip by an IAEA delegation to the NPP through Kiev and then across the contact line will be very dangerous, asserted Igor Vishnevetsky, the Deputy Director of the Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control at the Russian Foreign Ministry last week.
The region of Zaporozhye has seen an escalation in Ukrainian offensives, with Ukrainian troops firing at the territory of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant earlier in the month, where a fire broke out immediately.
The Russian Defense Ministry is considering the shelling of the Zaporozhye power plant by Ukrainian forces an act of nuclear terrorism under a UN convention adopted by a resolution of the UNGA, according to the head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev.
The official said if an accident were to happen, which the shelling could potentially cause, the effects would surpass the scale of Chernobyl and Fukushima - the entire territories of Ukraine, Donetsk, Lugansk, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Bulgaria, and Romania would be contaminated by nuclear waste.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian army sabotaged a high-voltage power line that provides electricity to nearby regions, which sparked a "power surge" at the station, causing smoke in a switchgear used to protect electrical equipment.
Russia has rejected previous claims, made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, that it uses the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant as a military base.
