IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi met with President Emmanuel Macron yesterday in Paris, in an important step to the IAEA’s imminent mission to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. President Macron, who reiterated his support of the IAEA’s activities, has played key role in facilitating the mission. That mission would assess the physical damage to the facilities, determine whether the main and backup safety and security systems are functional and evaluate the staff’s working conditions, in addition to performing urgent safeguards activities on the site. The plant, Europe’s largest, has been occupied by Russian forces since early March but is operated by Ukrainian staff. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to an IAEA mission in talks with President Macron, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed the parameters with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In his address to the UN Security Council earlier this month, Mr Grossi called for cooperation from both sides of the conflict to allow for a mission to the Zaporizhzhya plant. The IAEA has not been able to visit Zaporizhzhya in south-eastern Ukraine since before the conflict began more than six months ago. Ukraine informed the Agency this week that renewed shelling caused additional damage in the area of Zaporizhzhya. Mr Grossi expressed the urgent need to send an IAEA mission to help stabilize the nuclear safety and security situation.
“The serious nuclear safety and security risks facing the facility, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, underlines the need for an IAEA expert mission to go there,” Mr Grossi said. “I am gravely concerned about the extremely stressful and challenging working conditions under which Ukrainian management and staff are operating the plant.”
France is among 12 countries of the IAEA’s Response and Assistance Network (RANET) that has provided specialized equipment to Ukraine in response to a request for needed equipment for the safe and secure operation of its nuclear facilities. In July, Ukraine received a large batch of radiation protection and monitoring equipment provided by France and Australia and delivered by the IAEA.