Vienna/Washington/New York: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi announced on August 29, 2022, about he and a team of IAEA experts and inspectors setting off from the Agency’s headquarters in Vienna for the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhia (ISAMZ) in Ukraine. The IAEA mission will help ensure nuclear safety and security at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) and undertake vital safeguards activities.
In Washington, Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson, United States Department of State, told media persons that the US hopes that Russia, which had earlier said it will let the IAEA team inspect the power plant, lives up to its word and allows a full inspection of the facilities and unhindered access to the operators.
Once reaching Zaporizhzhia later this week, ISAMZ will assess the physical damage to the facilities, determine the functionality of the main and backup safety and security systems, and evaluate the working conditions of the control room staff. At the same time, the mission will undertake urgent safeguards activities to verify that nuclear material is used only for peaceful purposes.
The ISAMZ hopes it will bring clarity to the situation and help address any contradictory information about the status of the facility, its operation and the damage it has sustained.
In New York, Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General, disclosed that the UN is providing critical logistics and security support to the IAEA mission. “We’re delighted that it will go ahead, and we think it’s an extremely important mission given all the questions that continue to be raised around the situation in the nuclear plant,” Dujarric told media persons.
In the most recent update from the power plant over the weekend, Ukraine informed the IAEA that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant site had come under renewed shelling but that all safety systems remain operational and there had been no increase in radiation levels. However, Ukraine said it did not yet have complete information on the nature of the damage from the shelling.
The ZNPP has been controlled by Russian forces since March 2022 but is operated by its Ukrainian staff. This month the site came under repeated shelling, and last week temporarily lost connection to its last remaining operational 750 kilovolt (kV) external power line.
Top Photo: The IAEA team departs for Ukraine. Source: IAEA
– global bihari bureau
