The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said Friday that the situation remains «potentially dangerous» and insisted that the parties agree to create a safety zone around the Zaporiyia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.
«As we have experienced several times, the situation can suddenly and dramatically worsen at any moment (…) The situation remains extremely precarious and potentially dangerous and the buffer zone remains an urgent necessity,» Grossi said.
As reported by the UN agency in a statement, personnel at the Zaporiyia plant are still «at reduced levels» and are «under constant psychological stress» due to the active conflict in the region.
«The workload of staff has increased due to the reduction in personnel and the need to repair the damage caused by the shelling, in addition to ensuring the nuclear safety of the plant,» the agency said.
These statements come after Grossi met with the head of the state corporation Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, in a meeting that the Russian side described as «substantial, useful and frank,» according to the TASS news agency.
For their part, as reported by Rosatom, the Russian authorities and Grossi have brought positions closer on the Zaporiyia power plant, considered the largest in Europe and controlled by Moscow since the beginning of March.
The IAEA has on numerous occasions expressed its fears that the Ukrainian atomic facilities could suffer some kind of accident due to the fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces. The Zaporiyia plant has suffered temporary disconnections from the power grid as a result of the attacks.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
