This Tuesday, the IAEA wants to present a report on the situation in Zaporizhia. This should be anything but reassuring. In the meantime, the last reactor has also shut down. The Ukrainian President Zelenskyj sees the nuclear power plant "only one step away from a radiation catastrophe".
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is "only one step away from a radiation catastrophe" due to the renewed interruption in the power supply for the second time. Russian shelling was to blame, he said.
"The shelling of the power plant shows that the terrorist state doesn't care what the IAEA will say and what the international community will decide," Zelenskyy said, referring to Russia. The site of the power plant has been shelled regularly in recent months, with the governments in Kyiv and Moscow blaming each other.
In the nuclear power plant, the sixth and last reactor was shut down on Monday due to the fire in a high-voltage line. Among other things, this produced electricity for cooling as well as for other essential safety functions of the system. The IAEA, citing Ukrainian information, announced that the backup power connection to a combined heat and power plant had been shut down to extinguish the fire.
"The world is again on the brink of a nuclear catastrophe," warned Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushenko on Monday after it became known that the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant had been decoupled. Galushenko called for the Russian military to withdraw and for a demilitarized zone to be established around the power plant.
French President Emmanuel Macron echoed this demand in a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to his office, Macron said that the safety of the nuclear power plant could only be guaranteed by "a withdrawal of Russian troops". It is "absolutely necessary" to ensure the safety of the nuclear power plant.
An IAEA mission led by its chairman Rafael Grossi visited the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant last week. Six inspectors initially stayed there afterwards. On Monday, four members of the IAEA team left, but two more would stay "permanently", Ukrainian operator Energoatom said. Zaporizhia is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. The fighting around the nuclear power plant is fueling fears of a nuclear catastrophe like the one in Chernobyl in 1986.
The IAEA has announced a report on the situation in Ukraine for this Tuesday. According to a statement by the UN agency, nuclear safety will be one of the issues involved.
