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IAEA chief to travel to Kyiv, Moscow this week

03.10.2022 11:15
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that its chief Rafael Grossi will travel to Kyiv and Moscow this week for talks on ways to protect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the south of Ukraine.
The Vienna headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The Vienna headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).Photo: PAP/DPA/Daniel Kalker

Director General Grossi continues his consultations and other efforts aimed at agreeing and implementing a nuclear safety and security zone around the ZNPP as soon as possible," the IAEA said in an announcement at the weekend.

"He is expected to travel to Kyiv and Moscow ...," it added.

The agency also said that it had received "information about the detention of Ihor Murashov, Director General of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP)."

The IAEA's Grossi warned that the detention could be "detrimental to nuclear safety and security."

He said that "the Director General of the ZNPP has the responsibility to ensure the nuclear safety and security of the plant" and ensures that all of the plant’s "operational procedures are implemented," including those "related to nuclear safety, radiation safety of operating personnel, and to nuclear security."

The agency said that its "experts present at the ZNPP reported that several explosions were again heard in the vicinity of the plant" at the end of last week.

As with some previous explosions reported by the IAEA, "they are believed to have been caused by landmines," it said, adding that the blasts indicated "a continued rise in the number of landmine explosions ... outside the perimeter fence of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which is controlled by Russian forces but operated by its Ukrainian staff."

"Director General Grossi remains deeply concerned about the repeated occurrence of such landmine explosions near the plant," the agency said.

The IAEA is an autonomous international organization within the United Nations system that aims to coordinate “all activities related to the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology,” according to the Polish foreign ministry.

The organization was established in 1957, with Poland as one of its founding members.

(gs)

Source: PAPiaea.org