Zaporizhzhia NPP nuclear safety remains extremely fragile - IAEA Director General

Grossi shared the information in a statement to the UN Security Council.

“The plant’s six reactors have been shut down since mid-2022 – five of them in cold shutdown and one in hot shutdown. But the potential dangers of a major nuclear accident remain very real,” Grossi said.

According to him, the reduction of qualified and trained personnel and a complex supply chain have negatively impacted technical maintenance, which is crucial for ensuring the safety of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Moreover, according to Grossi, there have been eight instances where Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant completely lost external power supply, requiring reliance on emergency diesel generators, the last line of defense against a nuclear accident, to ensure essential cooling of the reactor and spent fuel.

Grossi plans to visit ZNPP within the next two weeks

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the IAEA has conducted 102 missions.

“I have personally led eight of them, including three to ZNPP and I will shortly be leading another one to ZNPP within the next two weeks,” Grossi said.

• Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is set to visit Ukraine, amidst concerns of repeated sabotage at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant by Russian forces.