IAEA: Consultations on safety zone around ZNPP will continue
“Diplomatic efforts to establish a nuclear safety and security protection zone around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) are making headway, with the aim to agree and implement the much-needed measure soon,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said after meeting Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Russian state nuclear company Rosatom, reads the IAEA’s press release.
As noted, Grossi earlier discussed the proposed zone with senior Ukrainian officials in Kyiv.
The consultations with both sides will continue in the near future, says the statement.
The hours-long meeting in the Russian capital yesterday was “another round of necessary discussions on the creation of a protection zone for the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant,” IAEA Director General said.
“It’s key that the zone focuses solely on preventing a nuclear accident. I am continuing my efforts towards this goal with a sense of utmost urgency,” Gross added.
Moreover, the IAEA is preparing to deploy its teams on a continual basis to four other Ukrainian nuclear facilities, the Khmelnitsky, Rivne and South Ukraine nuclear power plants (NPPs), as well as the Chornobyl site, as agreed last week by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and IAEA Director General Grossi. These missions aim to provide technical support and assistance as needed in order to help maintain a high level of nuclear safety and security and reduce the risk of a nuclear incident or accident.
On 16 December, significant shelling was experienced throughout Ukraine. This resulted in the Khmelnitsky and Rivne NPPs reducing power and the South Ukraine NPP disconnecting from the electrical grid. None of the nuclear power plants in Ukraine experienced a loss of off-site power. Now, all nine reactors are operating once again at these three NPPs.
As reported, Grossi expressed hope to reach an agreement with Russia and Ukraine to establish a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the Zaporizhzhia NPP by the end of the year.
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