Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev, briefed Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sept. 7 on his discussions with International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi after his visit to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). The IAEA is concerned with the situation at Zaporozhye (the largest nuclear power plant in Europe) as well as with the attacks against the NPP at Kursk. The IAEA remains “on standby” to watch developments, and negotiations continue on having IAEA monitors stationed at Kursk. On the Kursk visit, Grossi said that for now the plant is operating “close to normal conditions,” but the situation around the NPP makes one worry about the danger of a nuclear incident. While the evidence that the perpetrators of the damage were the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Grossi is not politically prepared to assign blame.
Likhachev further noted that the Mayor of Energograd, the site of the Zaporozhye NPP, had also been subject to an assassination attempt. “This shows that they are not calming down in Kyiv,” Likhachev said. “They continue to strike at infrastructure, at nuclear power plants, at personnel, and threats continue to be made.” He said that “an attack on Kursk would be an attack on the nuclear energy industry.”
Grossi was also adamant on this point. “I said this in Zaporozhye, I said this in Kyiv, I am saying this now in Kaliningrad: Nuclear power plants can never be a legitimate target in an armed conflict,” Grossi said on Sept. 6. At the same time, he called nuclear safety issues “extremely complex” and noted that the parties to the negotiations hold different views on some aspects. “Nevertheless, we are united in our commitment to fulfill our professional duty and continue the dialogue aimed at ensuring nuclear safety at facilities.”
