The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated on Saturday that it is “extremely concerned” and warned of the risk of “a serious nuclear accident” in Ukraine due to the tense situation at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, occupied by Russia since March 2022.
The UN nuclear agency explained in a report that its observers deployed to the plant received information that the announced evacuation of the residents of the city of Enerhodar – where most of the plant’s staff reside – has begun .
According to the director general of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, the inspectors of the IAEA are closely following the situation in case it may affect nuclear safety, but he has warned that they have not been allowed access for days in Enerhodar Specifically, he was deeply concerned about the increasingly tense, stressful and difficult conditions for workers at the plant, the largest in Europe.
IAEA experts continue to hear bombardment there regularly. “The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous,” he warned.
“I am extremely concerned about the very real risks to nuclear safety that the plant faces. We must act now to prevent the threat of a serious nuclear accident and its consequences for the population and the environment”, said Grossi from the IAEA headquarters in Vienna.
For his part, Ivan Fedorov, the Ukrainian mayor of the occupied city of Melitopol, stated on Telegram that the “evacuation” announced by the Russian authorities was being done too quickly.
Last Friday, the regional governor installed by Moscow, Yevgeny Balitsky, announced a partial evacuation of 18 localities under Russian occupation in the region, in particular Enerhodar. These “temporary” evacuations, according to Balitski, mainly referred to children with their parents, the elderly, the disabled and hospitalized patients due to the multiplication, according to him, of the bombings from the Ukrainian side that occurred in recent days.
The Russian authorities plan to evacuate around 70,000 people from the towns of the Zaporizhia region, according to another official of the employment administration, Andrei Kozenko, in information collected by the Russian agency TASS.
The Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, controlled by the Russian army since March 2022, is located on the banks of the Dnieper River, which in this area separates the two fronts, and since the beginning of the war the two sides have they have accused of having attacked it and of having generated the fear of a nuclear disaster.
The director general of the IAEA has demanded since the beginning of the conflict the creation of a safety zone around the plant to prevent a nuclear accident from occurring. The Zaporizhzhya region is one of the areas where Ukraine could launch the long-awaited counter-offensive in the coming days and weeks to repel the Russian occupation forces.
The IAEA recalled that the director of the plant appointed by Russia, Yuri Chernychuk, has publicly stated that operational personnel are not being evacuated and that everything necessary is being done to ensure nuclear safety at the plant, the six whose reactors are stopped.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the plant’s staff has been gradually decreasing, although the management of the plant assures that it remains sufficient for the safe operation of the nuclear plant.
