The IAEA owns the situation at the ZNPP despite limited access, says the company's general director

Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant / Photo: Facebook

The Russians have restricted the access of specialists of the International Atomic Energy Agency to the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Despite this, experts have the situation at the station.

This was stated by the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi in an interview with Ukrinform.

«No, it's already too much. It's true that they don't always give us all the access we need. We insist, and not only insist, I talk about it, I report about it. So everyone understands the situation we are in. But to depict the situation as if we are looking at an artificial, as you say, «Potemkin village» - that is, something that does not exist — is not correct,» emphasized Mariano Grossi.

He added that highly qualified specialists are currently at the station.

«They are very experienced experts and know very well how to separate truth from lies. And they can perfectly see what is happening at the station,» noted the general director.

Commenting on the statement of the Minister of Energy of Ukraine, Herman Halushchenko, that the information in the notes sent by Russia to the IAEA Secretariat regarding the situation at the ZNPP is not true, Grossi assured that the agency is able to verify such information.

«Well, we are checking. Don't forget that we don't just receive information. We have our own experts who walk around the station every day. So when certain safety measures are implemented or some equipment is replaced, we go and check whether it has been done or not. We don't just passively receive information and then publish it. This is the whole point. Otherwise, we wouldn't be there,» said Mariano Grossi.

What is the situation at Zaporizhzhia NPP?

The station came under the control of the Russian Federation in March 2022. Due to Russian shelling, the station experienced eight complete blackouts and one partial blackout, with emergency diesel generators and security systems being activated.

On June 22, 2023, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Russian occupiers may be thinking about committing a terrorist act with the release of radiation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP.

On June 29, large-scale special exercises aimed at preparing for a possible terrorist attack at the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant began in Kherson, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Also, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, a population evacuation plan was developed, as well as routes that would be used to transport people to safe places in the event of an explosion at the Zaporizhzhia NPP.

At the same time, the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Mariia Zakharova, accused Ukraine of allegedly intending to «carry out a terrorist attack» at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Energodar.

On July 6, the head of the State Administration of Ukraine announced that the threat of an artificial man-made disaster at the occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP is beginning to subside.

In total, during the two years of occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, more than 150 gross violations of the operation of the nuclear power plant were recorded.

The chairman of the board of NAEC «Energoatom» Petro Kotin previously stated that due to the incompetence of the staff recruited by the Russians, the necessary repairs and inspections are not carried out at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in full.