External radiation monitoring station at Zaporizhzhia NPP destroyed, IAEA says

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports.

“The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been informed by the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) that an external radiation monitoring station was destroyed by shelling and fire this week, further reducing the effectiveness of its off-site capability to detect and measure any radioactive release during an emergency,” said Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

According to him, this has further reduced the ability to detect and measure any radioactive releases during a possible emergency at ZNPP.

Communication with the monitoring station located about 16 kilometers southwest of the plant was lost on Monday afternoon. Due to shelling, IAEA staff were unable to access the site to confirm the damage.

The IAEA noted that out of 14 radiation monitoring stations in the 30-kilometer zone around the plant, four were completely lost, and some others did not work at different times due to damage.

Grossi emphasized that the operation of external radiation monitoring equipment is an important part of nuclear safety worldwide.

“The loss of one radiation monitoring station does not have a direct impact on safety at the ZNPP, but it forms part of a continuous erosion of a range of safety measures during the war that remains a deep source of concern,” he said.

• Eduard Atakishchev, deputy director of the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, appointed by Russia, helps the Russian military remove unused equipment from the plant.