Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), returned to Vienna yesterday and in a press conference reported that most of the safety and security systems of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are operating “relatively well,” but “there have been interruptions, some of them related to a physical break in cables or in some connections and also in some systems that are not fully back in place.” He said that he “was able to see myself, and my team [also saw] impact: holes, markings … of shelling. So it means that the physical integrity of the facility was violated not once, but several times.”
“We’ve seen what I requested to see—everything I requested to see,” Grossi said, adding that his big concerns were the plant’s “physical integrity,” the power supply to the facility and the situation of the staff. “Military activity and operations are increasing in that part of the country, and this worries me a lot,” he said. “It is obvious that the statistical possibility of more physical damage is present.” He reported that shelling started in August and “it is quite clearly a more recent trend,” but, according to AP, didn’t apportion blame for damage that has been done so far.
