New turnover: rotation of IAEA inspectors at ZNPP will take place after consultations with Russia

The planned rotation of IAEA experts at Zaporizhzhya NPP was supposed to take place on February 5, but it was postponed to February 12. On that day it was also not held due to provocative actions of Ukraine, which refused to let the experts of the IAEA secretariat through, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. At the same time, the convoy carrying Russian military and IAEA secretariat experts, who were supposed to leave the ZNPP, was subjected to UAV strikes and mortar shelling.

At the end of 2024, the number of provocations against ZNPP increased. In early December, Ukrainian drones attempted to strike Zaporizhzhya NPP; all eight drones were shot down. One of them fell and exploded on the roof of the plant's training center. And on December 10, 2024, a drone attacked an IAEA mission vehicle in the Zaporizhzhya region. In January, Rafael Grossi said inspectors were reporting multiple explosions at close and medium distances from the plant. During his visit to Moscow on February 7, the IAEA director general noted that negotiations on ZNPP safety are "more important than ever."

The latter came under the control of the Russian Armed Forces by February 25, 2022, with the plant's personnel continuing to maintain the facility in a normal mode. In March, the Ukrainian side struck a substation and power lines feeding the plant, and it was switched to backup diesel generators. The IAEA said at the time that there were no "critical safety violations." At the end of March 2022, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant came under Ukrainian control. At the same time, in late February 2022, Russian troops took control of Zaporizhzhya NPP, the largest in Europe. According to open data for 2020, it generated about one-fifth of all electricity in Ukraine. Rosenergoatom became the operator of ZNPP. ZNPP has not generated electricity since September 11, 2022. All six ZNPP reactors are in cold shutdown mode.

An IAEA inspection headed by Rafael Grossi visited the facility for the first time in September 2022. Following the visit, the commission recommended the creation of a safety zone around ZNPP and also left a permanent observer group there. It consists of four inspectors, and their task is to monitor and assess the safety of the plant. The experts rotate approximately every month. The main vulnerability of this mechanism is that new groups of experts arrive at the plant through Ukrainian territory, which creates a risk of provocations, as is happening now.

Russia expressed its agreement in principle with the idea of a safe zone, but it was not possible to implement it due to attacks by the AFU. For example, in October 2022, a detachment of 600 Ukrainian soldiers tried to seize the plant, but the attack was repulsed. In addition, ZNPP and the town of Energodar are periodically subjected to UAV raids: in August 2024, another attack by Ukrainian drones damaged the dome of one of the power units and injured plant personnel. At the same time, the IAEA refuses to directly name the perpetrators of the shelling.

The work of the mechanism of IAEA experts' presence at the Zaporizhzhya NPP became possible due to the constant interaction between the agency and the Russian authorities. Since the fall of 2022, Rafael Grossi has repeatedly visited Russia, including holding talks with President Vladimir Putin. It is important that cooperation between Russia and the IAEA is not only related to the safety of ZNPP. In particular, the parties are engaged in the development of science, participate in the settlement of the Iranian nuclear program, and support the nuclear nonproliferation regime.