On March 21, Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine could not achieve their goal of using the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to throw the Russians out of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP), and that Kiev would have to resort to means outside of the IAEA, or any international agency. The next day, the IAEA issued a statement about the “perilous” situation created by the threatened cutoff of the last electrical power line to the plant from the Ukrainian grid. ZNPP is the largest nuclear plant in Europe.
Yesterday, the IAEA announced that their Director General Rafael Grossi will make a previously unplanned trip to ZNPP himself next week “to assess first-hand the serious nuclear safety and security situation at the facility.” It quotes Grossi: “I’ve decided to travel again to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant to see for myself how the situation has evolved since September and to talk to those operating the facility in these unprecedented and very difficult circumstances. I remain determined to continue doing everything in my power to help reduce the risk of a nuclear accident during the tragic war in Ukraine.”
