IAEA: Zaporozhye NPP must be protected regardless of the referendum

Regardless of the referendum in the Zaporozhye region, the nuclear power plant must be protected, said Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Safety Agency (IAEA), following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the UN General Assembly. About it informs TASS.

Journalists asked Grossi to comment on today’s appeal by Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the holding of referendums in the territories controlled by the Russian Federation. “There are many factors. We hope to reach from him [президента РФ] and from all the support that is needed to ensure the safety of this station. A nuclear incident is nobody’s interest,” Grossi said. According to him, the risk of a nuclear threat is very high, since the shelling of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant continues.

“Regardless of whether there is a referendum or not, we must protect the station. Now it is not protected,” the IAEA director said.

At the Russian Foreign Ministry following the meeting reportedthat the Russian side confirms its intention to cooperate with the IAEA in the future. “S.V. Lavrov confirmed the intention of the Russian side to continue close cooperation with the IAEA in order to force the Kyiv regime to immediately stop shelling the said plant and the territories adjacent to it, including the city of Energodar, where ZNPP employees and their families live,” the source said. Department’s Telegram channel.

During a special operation in Ukraine, the Russian military took control of part of the Zaporozhye region, including Energodar, where the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the ZNPP, is located. The IAEA mission arrived at the territory of the Zaporozhye NPP on September 1 due to regular shelling from Ukraine.

6 September IAEA published report on the results of his mission to ZNPP. The organization called for an end to attacks on the station and the establishment of a safe zone around it. At the same time, experts did not specify who was shelling the object. The report also says that several events have been recorded at the ZNPP since the spring that violate the principles of nuclear safety, and that members of the delegation themselves witnessed the shelling.