The Director General of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, himself leads this mission, of at least ten people, for the inspection of the plant occupied by the Russian army on the front line, in the south of Ukraine.
“The day has come, the IAEA mission to Zaporizhia is now on its way. We must protect the security of Ukraine and the largest power plant in Europe”, he wrote on Twitter, specifying that the mission would arrive on the spot “later this week”.
Mr. Grossi had been asking for several months to be able to go to the scene, warning of the “real risk of nuclear disaster”.
“This mission will be the hardest in the history of the IAEA because of the combat activity carried out by Russia on the ground,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba on Monday during a trip to Stockholm. .
In a statement on Monday, the G7 countries, “deeply concerned” by the risk of a nuclear accident in Zaporizhia, asked for the guarantee of “unrestricted” access for IAEA personnel to the plant.
“Any attempt by Russia to disconnect the power plant from the Ukrainian electricity grid would be unacceptable”, further warns the G7.
On Monday morning, Ukrainian power plant operator Energoatom said on its Telegram account that the Zaporizhia power plant “operates with the risk of violating radiation and fire safety regulations”.
In addition, according to the operator “10 inhabitants were injured” as a result of bombardments during the last 24 hours on Energodar, the locality on which the plant depends. Among them, four are employees of the plant, according to Energoatom.
In addition, the operator assures that the Russian forces, “preparing for the arrival of the IAEA mission, are putting pressure on the personnel of the plant to prevent them from revealing evidence of the occupier’s crimes at the plant. “.
– “Risk of leakage” –
The Zaporizhia plant, where six of Ukraine’s 15 reactors are located, was taken by Russian troops in early March, shortly after the February 24 invasion began.
kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of carrying out bombardments near the complex, on the Dnieper River, and thus putting the site in danger.
“The plant’s infrastructure has been damaged and there are risks of hydrogen leakage and spraying of radioactive substances,” Energoatom warned on Saturday.
Faced with this “dangerous” situation, President Volodymyr Zelensky had urged the UN nuclear police on Friday to send a team as soon as possible.
Between Thursday and Friday, the plant and its six reactors of 1,000 megawatts each were “totally disconnected” from the national grid due to damage to the power lines, according to kyiv, before being reconnected and restarted.
In addition, the town hall of Zaporijjia indicated that since August 23 it has been distributing iodine tablets to residents within a radius of 50 km around the plant, in accordance with the instructions of the Ministry of Health, while stressing that iodine should not only be taken in the event of a radiation alert.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted the organization of a mission passing “through Ukraine” and not through Russia, which he previously demanded.
Meanwhile, fighting continued in the east and south of the country.
Local authorities refer in particular to night bombardments in the regions of Kharkiv (north-east), Mykolayev (south), and Dniepropetrovsk (center). The governor of this last region, Valentyn Reznichenko, announced on Monday, on his Telegram account, the death of a person in the last bombardments.
In his daily address, Mr Zelensky said on Sunday evening that “the invaders have brought degradation and death. And they think they’re here forever. But they’re not.” Mr Zelensky then said he wanted to take back “all regions under Russian occupation”, including Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014.