International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi spoke today with high-ranking officials in Ukraine regarding safety concerns at Europe's largest nuclear power plant – "Zaporozhie" NPP, near which attacks were recently registered, Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
Grossi, who heads the IAEA, was on his tenth visit to Ukraine since the Russian-Ukrainian war began in February 2022.
He wrote in a post in "X" (before Twitter) that he was traveling to Zaporozhye to "help prevent a nuclear accident".
According to the operator of the nuclear power plant "Energoatom", which blamed Russia for the attacks, there was artillery shelling in the area the previous day, which disrupted access to the nuclear facility.
"The Russian shelling damaged one of the two external power lines through which the Zaporizhia NPP receives energy from the Ukrainian energy grid," the operator company said in a publication in "Telegram". "In the event of damage to the second line, an emergency situation will occur," the statement said, adding that technicians could not reach the site of the failure due to the "real threat of repeated shelling".
The Vienna-based IAEA says ongoing attacks in the area of the facility, as well as damage to the country's power grid, pose a threat to power supplies vital to Ukraine's nuclear power plants. The UN nuclear watchdog announced that recently its employees on site at the Zaporizhia NPP have been forced into hiding after reports of threats of drone attacks in the area.
Besides the "Zaporozhie" NPP, there are three more operating power plants in Ukraine.
Grossi, who is traveling with a team of experts and IAEA officials, began the round of meetings in Kyiv, visiting the Ministry of Energy, where he spoke with Minister German Galushchenko.