The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported this Wednesday (3) that the Russian Army, which has occupied the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant since March 2022, is denying UN observers access to three reactor rooms at the facility. . “IAEA experts remain unable to access all parts of the plant and, for the past two weeks, have not been allowed access to the reactor rooms of units 1, 2 and 6,” the agency said in a statement.
“This is the first time that IAEA experts have been denied access to the reactor room of a unit that is on cold standstill,” added director general Rafael Grossi in the note.
The agency has been keeping observers at the site of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, with six reactors, the largest in Europe, since last year. The reactor rooms contain the reactor core and the fuel used in its operation, Grossi explained.
Five of the six reactors are in cold shutdown, meaning they are not producing power, while one is in hot shutdown to produce steam and heat for the nearby town of Enerhodar, where most of the plant's staff live.
Furthermore, the IAEA said that, at the insistence of its observers, the plant carried out work on its backup electrical transformers to ensure a permanent and instantaneous supply of electricity.
According to Grossi, this is a “significant advance”, as it allows independence and redundancy in the plant's energy supply system, although the situation of the facilities remains “extremely fragile”.
In recent weeks, IAEA observers have heard periodic explosions some distance from the plant, “highlighting the dangers it continues to face,” the director general said.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and within days conquered the area around the Zaporizhzhia power plant. (With EFE Agency)
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