IAEA experts saw mines at Zaporizhzhia NPP - statement

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said this in a statement published on Monday, July 24, Ukrinform reports.

During a walkdown on July 23, the IAEA team saw some mines located in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers, Grossi said. The experts reported that they were situated in a restricted area that operating plant personnel cannot access and were facing away from the site.

"As I have reported earlier, the IAEA has been aware of the previous placement of mines outside the site perimeter and also at particular places inside. Our team has raised this specific finding with the plant and they have been told that it is a military decision, and in an area controlled by military," Grossi said.

He said that having such explosives on the site is inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance and creates additional psychological pressure on plant staff.

In recent days and weeks, the IAEA experts present at the ZNPP have carried out inspections and regular walkdowns across the site, without seeing any heavy military equipment. At the same time, the IAEA is continuing to request access to the roofs of the ZNPP's reactors and their turbine halls, including units 3 and 4 "which are of particular interest," Grossi said.

In the evening of July 22, the IAEA team heard several detonations some distance away from the plant.

The IAEA experts are continuing to closely monitor the situation regarding the availability of water for cooling the ZNPP's six reactors and other essential nuclear safety and security functions, following the destruction of the downstream Kakhovka dam in early June and the subsequent depletion of the huge reservoir near the plant, Grossi added. The IAEA team reported that the available water supply remains relatively stable, with the water level decreasing by around 1 centimeter per day due to usage and evaporation, he said.

The IAEA added that a new team of IAEA experts arrived at the Rivne NPP on July 24 and new teams at the Khmelnytskyi and South Ukraine sites will also arrive this week to replace the current IAEA teams there.

Ukraine's Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom reported on July 24 that the ZNPP's occupation administration had put the station's power unit No. 4 into a hot shutdown state, which is a gross violation of the license requirements for the operation of this nuclear installation.