On September 1, the IAEA conducted a mission to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which was supposed to “help ensure nuclear safety and security [at the plant] and undertake vital safeguards activities,” as put on the organisation’s website.
The official statement released by the IAEA team has raised some questions amongst Ukrainian nuclear energy experts, which will be delved into during our expert discussion on September 7.
In the official statement, the IAEA repeats various times that the plant is being shelled constantly without actually mentioning who it is being shelled by. “Our team on the ground received direct, fast and reliable information about the latest significant development affecting the plant’s external power situation, as well as the operational status of the reactors,” says Director General Grossi.
However, just after the IAEA team left the ZNPP (except for the two experts who stayed to “control the situation”), a plant worker who wished to remain anonymous revealed that the IAEA inspectors did not speak with the workers in private. All the conversations were held in the presence of the occupying forces who are known to have tortured them.
Ukraine has been demanding the demilitarisation of the ZNPP for months, due to the constant danger russian shelling constitutes to the plant. Yesterday, on September 5, the last power transmission line that connected the ZNPP to Ukraine’s energy system was disconnected due to a fire caused by another shelling.
Just a few days before that, Grossi said he remained “gravely concerned about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant,” but that “the continued presence of the IAEA will be of paramount importance in helping to stabilise the situation.”
What is really happening at the ZNPP?
Why is the IAEA concealing information about the conditions the workers are in?
What are the consequences of the nuclear disaster that is now looking very real?
And would the IAEA’s presence really be of much help were russians to blow up the plant?
Our experts will try to answer these and more questions during the discussion on Wednesday. We strongly encourage you to come and shed light on the realities of the ZNPP, as well as a possible future that awaits all of us.
The organiser of the event is the International Centre for Ukrainian Victory.
To participate in the briefing, please fill out the short form by the link https://forms.gle/BN43C1GF1k7xtWsf8 or confirm your participation by replying to this email.
Contacts:
Vlada Dumenko, Communications Manager, ICUV
[email protected], +385 99 8559 860
