Grossi calls unacceptable disruption of IAEA inspectors' rotation at ZNPP unacceptable

The rotation of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission staff from the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant (ZNPP) has been canceled due to intense military activity, which is unacceptable. The corresponding statement of the agency's Director General Rafael Grossi was published on the IAEA website on February 12.

"I deeply regret the cancellation of today's carefully prepared and coordinated rotation of our staff, who are doing vital work under very difficult circumstances to help prevent a nuclear accident in times of conflict. It is totally unacceptable that the safety of our staff is being jeopardized in this way," he stressed.

According to Grossi, against the backdrop of the events, active consultations are underway with Russia and Ukraine to guarantee the safety of IAEA staff and ensure the continued presence of the agency's personnel at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. This, in turn, will make it possible to continue "the irreplaceable mission of helping to maintain nuclear safety," the IAEA chief said.

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Earlier in the day, the governor of Zaporizhzhya region, Yevgeny Balitsky, said that the AFU had hit a parking lot in Zaporizhzhya's satellite town Energodar, located 300 meters from the plant's first reactor, with the help of a drone. He noted that the Kiev regime arranged a cynical provocation, disrupting the rotation of the IAEA mission staff. All the experts are safe now, Balitsky added. "Izvestia" showed footage of the attack by Ukrainian militants.

In her turn, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova drew attention to the fact that with this attack Ukraine showed its terrorist nature and non-alignment. She added that servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces, who were supposed to accompany a group of IAEA employees, waited unsuccessfully for the experts for several hours under the threat of shelling. After the agency's employees failed to show up, the servicemen were recalled, and on their return their convoy was subjected to drone strikes and mortar fire.

At the same time, the acting head of the Energodar administration, Maxim Pukhov, suggested that a new route for the rotation of IAEA mission experts to the ZNPP, excluding Ukrainian territory, should be safe: Energodar - Rostov-on-Don - Moscow - (and so on).

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi drew attention back on January 23 to the fact that the nuclear safety situation at ZNPP is not improving and the agency's mission at the plant is far from being completed.

Zaporizhzhya Region, where the nuclear power plant is located, became part of the Russian Federation following a referendum in September 2022. Since that time, Zaporizhzhya NPP has been under constant IAEA supervision.