IAEA to visit Zaporizhzhia power plant in September says Russian official

• IAEA delegation may be able to visit Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in early September.
• Russia and Ukraine are standing on opposite poles of and arrangemnts for the visit.
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• Ulyanov said that mission of the organization earlier being shared with the head of IAEA.

Russia’s representative in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency may be able to visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in early September, according to Mikhail Ulyanov.

Mikhail made online statement on Friday, it  stated that “It’s too early to say anything about the details, these are all extremely sensitive issues, we are discussing and will continue to discuss the modalities of the mission, the route, the number of people who will be involved in this, how long they will stay at the station, for what tasks they are there sent.”

“When the mission can take place — forecasts do not always come true, but, according to my feelings, we can quite realistically talk about the first days of September, unless some extraneous factors that are not related to the goals arise again,” Ulyanov said.

Ulyanov said that mission of the organization earlier being shared with the head of IAEA.

“Almost every day I communicate with the director general of the agency, Rafael Grossi … On Monday, he will appear here in Vienna, and work in this direction will intensify,” Ulyanov said.

As the concern of the plant, Ulyanov said: “So far, there are no serious consequences, but, as the IAEA director general rightly said at an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council a week ago, at any moment this could end badly,” Ulyanov said.

He said the situation at the plant was “extremely alarming. What the Ukrainian military is doing when shelling this nuclear facility is completely unacceptable,” he said.

Ukraine has denied shelling the area and has accused Russia of acting provocatively. Some of the plant’s facilities have been damaged.

Ulyanov stated that he did not believe the IAEA would support Ukraine’s demand for the establishment of a demilitarised zone around the plant.

“I believe the IAEA will not support it for one simple reason: the establishment of demilitarised zones has nothing to do with the IAEA’s mandate,” he said.

Officials in Russia have rejected the idea of demilitarising the plant, claiming that it must be safeguarded.

In the midst of a barrage of accusations from both sides, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Friday that Ukraine’s recklessness was to blame for posing “a threat to Europe’s largest nuclear facility with potential risks for a vast territory, not only adjacent to this plant, but far beyond Ukrainian borders.”

“Our air defence systems in the region have been strengthened, and we are taking all precautions to ensure the station’s safety,” Ryabkov told Russian state news agency TASS.

According to Ryabkov, the presence of Russian military guarding the nuclear plant ensures that a Chernobyl-style disaster will not occur.

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