The situation is very worrying: an investigation revealed damage near the six reactors and the nuclear waste storage sites.
(Photo: dpa)
Kyiv, Vienna In its report on the state of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expresses concern about an imminent nuclear accident. Immediate measures are required to prevent this, including a security zone to be set up immediately around the power plant, according to the report by the UN agency published in Vienna on Tuesday.
The report summarizes the findings of the visit by IAEA experts to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant last week. The IAEA is always ready to set up a security zone. The situation at the power plant is very worrying.
During the investigation, damage was also found near the six reactors and the storage sites for nuclear waste, the report said. Although some work has already been carried out to repair the damage, this has not yet been completed.
During their visit to the nuclear power plant, the IAEA inspectors noted the presence of Russian military personnel and armed forces vehicles and equipment. The Ukrainian technicians at the power plant, who are monitored by Russian soldiers, are exposed to great stress and there is also a shortage of staff. “This is unsustainable and could increasingly lead to human error with implications for nuclear safety.” Two inspectors from the IAEA are still in the nuclear power plant.
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Emergency power line to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant had to be cut
Meanwhile, the shelling of the nuclear power plant continued. According to the IAEA, the emergency power line had to be cut to extinguish a fire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video message that the nuclear power plant, which had been occupied by Russian troops since March, was “only one step away from a radiation catastrophe” for the second time because of another interruption in the power supply. Russian shelling is responsible for this. “The shelling of the power plant shows that the terrorist state doesn’t care what the IAEA will say and what the international community will decide,” Zelenskiy said.
Russia, on the other hand, once again blamed Ukraine for the shelling. Within 24 hours, Ukrainian forces fired 20 artillery shells at the city of Enerhodar and the area around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that three of them had hit the nuclear power plant site. A projectile exploded next to Block 2. The radiation at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is normal. The information provided by both sides could not be checked independently.
In the course of the war, Ukraine says it is pushing ahead with its offensive in the south and east of the country. In the town of Vysokopillya in southern Ukraine’s Kherson province, Ukrainian troops raised the country’s blue and yellow flag, a photo posted online showed. Ukraine is gradually taking back its territories, President Zelensky said in an interview with ABC News. “It’s only a matter of time.”
Four Russian ammunition depots were destroyed in the Cherson region in the south of the country, the southern command of the Ukrainian armed forces said. Bridges across the Dnieper would also come under fire. The details of the fighting cannot be independently verified.
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