The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday it was sending a team of experts to inspect a nuclear complex in southern Ukraine that had been affected by shelling, kicking off a vital mission. but very risky to assuage global fears of a nuclear disaster.
After weeks of controversial negotiations involving Russia, their forces took over the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, and Ukraine, whose engineers are keeping it running amid near-daily artillery attacks in the region, the head United Nations nuclear watchdog announced that inspectors are “on their way” and will arrive at the site later this week.
Both Russia and Ukraine welcomed the statement by the Director General of the IAEA, Rafael M. Grossi, even as they repeated accusations that the other side was responsible for the shelling. Mr. Grossi did not specify how the mission will reach Zaporizhzhia, that is Europe’s largest nuclear facilitya large complex consisting of six light water reactors, cooling towers, engine rooms and radioactive waste storage.
If the inspectors pass through Ukrainian territory to the plant located along the Dnipro River in the southern part of Ukraine controlled by Russian forces, they will become one of the few international missions that cross the front lines in the region. The war lasted 6 months. .
In Zaporizhzhia, its team will inspect safety systems, assess plant damage and assess staff working conditions, the IAEA said. Among the main concerns is fire or other damage that could cause the cooling system to fail and lead to nuclear failure.
But the agency did not immediately disclose the timing of the visit or the security arrangements, an indication of the complexity and danger of the mission, even for an agency that has overseen county sites. in Iran, North Korea, and other challenging locations.
Russia’s special envoy to the IAEA, Mikhail Ulyanov, said that Moscow will facilitate the visit and that the agency has signaled that it intends to station a number of experts at the Zaporizhzhia complex “on the basis of regular base”, state news agency RIA Novosti report.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said on Monday that he hoped IAEA experts would conclude that Russia was putting “the entire world at risk of a nuclear accident”, repeating his words. Ukraine’s call for Moscow to withdraw its forces from the plant.
The area where the factory is located has seen some of the most intense recent fighting of the war, as attacks along the entire southern front line hit ammunition depots, towns and military installations. The plant has been under sporadic shelling since early August, though the extent of its damage remains unclear.
Last week, after fighting cut off high voltage power lines, the Zaporizhzhia facility was temporarily disconnected from the national grid for the first time, Ukrainian officials said. Operators implemented emergency procedures to cool the reactor core with pumps powered by diesel generators, but the event highlighted the heightened danger posed by nearby fighting.
Plant employees and outside experts say an artillery attack would not penetrate the meter-thick reinforced concrete of containment ships on the six reactors, but could damage equipment. reactor support or cause fires that could burn out of control. Artillery strikes can also disrupt less sturdy containers used to store spent nuclear fuel.
Concerns about the possibility of a radioactive leak if the plant suffered further damage prompted Ukrainian officials to begin emitting potassium iodidea drug that can protect against some radioactive toxins, for people living within 35 miles of the plant.
On Monday, Dmytro Orlov, the exiled mayor of Enerhodar, the Russian-occupied town near the factory, said that two residential areas in the city were shelled during the night, which he blamed on Russian forces. Energoatom, a Ukrainian nuclear energy company, said that the Russian shelling had injured 10 residents of Enerhodar, including four employees of the plant.
Fires in the area left the nuclear plant covered in smoke on Monday and across the river from the facility, continuous shelling could be heard in the barges.
In the nearby Ukrainian-administered village of Chervonohryhorivka, the sound of flames bursting and raging could be heard throughout the morning. One woman, Nataliya, 41, described how the massive shelling at around 1am caused people to flee the village.
“People are holding their babies in their arms and running from burning houses,” she said.
