UN nuclear watchdog chief calls Zaporizhzhia plant shelling “irresponsible”

• The UN’s nuclear watchdog criticised new shelling near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
• According to the plant’s operator, the shelling just cut the plant off from Ukraine’s power grid.
• Diesel generators are now used to power the plant. Six reactors are in “cold shutdown.”

The UN’s nuclear watchdog criticised new shelling near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. According to the plant’s operator, the shelling just cut the plant off from Ukraine’s power grid.

In a press release on Saturday, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that the shelling was “extremely irresponsible.”

According to the Ukrainian nuclear operator Energoatom, Russian forces attacked the plant on Saturday and broke the last power line that connected it to Ukraine’s power grid. Diesel generators are now used to power the plant.

“The resumption of shelling, hitting the plant’s sole source of external power, is tremendously irresponsible. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant must be protected,” Grossi said on Saturday.

“All the plant’s safety systems continue to receive power and are operating normally, the IAEA experts were informed by senior Ukrainian operating staff at the site,” he added in the release.

“Even though the six reactors are in “cold shutdown,” they still need electricity for important functions related to nuclear safety and security. The diesel generators at the plant each have enough fuel for at least 10 days. Engineers from ZNPP have started fixing the broken 750 kV power line “based on the announcement.

Grossi said that the plant “must be protected” and that he will soon go to the Russian Federation and then back to Ukraine to agree on a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the plant. This is an urgent and absolute must.”

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