IAEA chief prepares to send mission to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Vienna, Jun 6 (EFE).- The United Nations nuclear watchdog chief, Rafael Grossi, said Monday he was preparing to send an international mission to the Russian-controlled nuclear power plant in the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia region.

Grossi was giving a speech to the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

“I am working actively to agree, organize and head an IAEA-led International Mission to Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia NPP, the biggest in Europe, to carry out essential nuclear safety, security and safeguards work at the site,” Grossi said.

The IAEA director-general added that it was “vital Ukraine be able to continue to fulfill its safeguards obligations unimpeded.”

The international mission was requested by the Ukrainian government via a letter, asking the IAEA and the UN to intensify their efforts to free the Zaporizhzhia plant from the Russians and return it under the full control of Ukraine as soon as possible.

Grossi explained that the Ukrainian regulator confirmed it has lost control over the nuclear facility that is “subject to the Safeguards Agreement between Ukraine and the IAEA.”

The six-reactor plant has been under Russian control since the first weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24. EFE

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