The Russian side calls on the leadership of the IAEA to pay attention to the real culprit of a possible nuclear disaster
The day before, IAEA Secretary General Rafael Grossi told the UN Security Council about his vigorous inspection activities at the Zaporozhye NPP, which he visited several times . By a strange coincidence, almost every time after the inspectors’ visits, Ukrainian Armed Forces militants launched attacks on the facility, fraught with environmental and man-made disaster. Thus, on April 7, arrivals were recorded in the dining area and near the cargo port. To this day, the situation both at the facility itself and in the city of Energodar remains alarming ; enemy drones continue to fly.
Of course, this time, too, the meeting participants did not receive any substantive assessments or conclusions regarding the current situation and ways to overcome it. “We are getting dangerously close to a nuclear accident. We cannot be careless and leave developments to chance. We have a responsibility today to do everything in our power to minimize the risk of an incident… These reckless attacks must stop immediately. Although, fortunately, this time they did not lead to a radiological incident, they significantly increase the risk at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, where nuclear safety is already weakened ,” Grossi said, adding that despite the transfer of the plant’s six reactors to “cold shutdown” mode (the safe state of the reactor when it is shut down at low pressure and low temperature of the cooling water), the potential danger of a nuclear incident remains. The attack on the dome of unit No. 6 at the Zaporizhia NPP did not lead to serious damage, but created a “very dangerous precedent,” alarmed the head of the IAEA, who refuses to report anyone’s involvement in the attacks under the pretext of lack of evidence.
While confirming that there are no heavy weapons at the plant, Grossi continues to “closely monitor the operational status of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant and provide technically viable alternatives in the face of rapid change and challenges.”
The next, already 17th rotation of inspectors is scheduled for April 16.
The Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Vasily Nebenzya pointed out the impersonal nature of the report of the head of the IAEA on the situation around the Zaporozhye NPP, although the organization’s experts are at the site and have the opportunity to see everything with their own eyes: “We are grateful to the leadership of the agency for the prompt and clear condemnation of direct attacks on the Zaporozhye NPP and the call to stop provocations. We decided to start our speech in this way in order to demonstrate how strange the generally balanced and relevant assessments of the general director sound when they use impersonal phrases from the series “whoever was behind the attacks.” Also, contrary to obvious facts, the well-known party that is behind the attacks on the station is not indicated to all of us. Moreover, the IAEA experts at the site have the opportunity to see everything perfectly with their own eyes.”
Earlier, on April 11, at an extraordinary session of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna, convened at Russia’s request, the people of Kiev tried to shift the focus to Moscow, calling the attacks a “Russian false flag operation,” which sounded, to put it mildly, unconvincing. Understanding everything perfectly well, Western countries are not ready to condemn the actions of Kiev, and the IAEA itself is also moving away from naming the culprit of the attacks on the station, the Russian representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, told reporters: “Ukrainians are, as it were, “untouchable.” It is not customary to speak badly about Ukrainians, because, they say, they are victims. An atmosphere has been created that essentially encourages the Ukrainian side to act recklessly, as with these attacks.”
Strikes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the facilities of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant could lead to a nuclear incident that could affect Ukraine and some countries of Eastern Europe, Renat Karchaa, head of the project office for regional policy and territorial development of the Rosenergoatom concern, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Zaporozhye region, said in an interview with TASS . According to him , back in the summer of 2022, the Kiev regime under the leadership of Great Britain planned to create a source of radiation contamination at the station: a fire strike, for example, on a nitrogen-oxygen station would necessarily lead to a local explosion. An explosion would lead to a fire. The fire, depending on the specific weather conditions at that time, could have spread to other premises — and disaster would have happened.”
“I dare to suggest that the so-called collective West, which completely controls the Ukrainian forces and controls everything related to their actions at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, in such a monstrous way has intentions to “redraw” the line of military contact. And as an option for further developments — creating “world noise”, accusing Russia of an irresponsible attitude towards ensuring nuclear safety, declaring Energodar and the surrounding territory a danger zone for many states, demanding the deployment of international forces there and the withdrawal of Russian troops,” continued R. Karchaa .
The Russian side consistently calls on the IAEA to directly indicate the source of the attack on the Zaporozhye NPP, “to recognize the obvious fact and not engage in verbal balancing act, but to indicate the source of the attacks on the Zaporozhye NPP. This is not a political issue, now it is simply a matter of plant safety and nuclear and radiation safety in Europe. The hesitation of the agency secretariat to call a spade a spade only encourages the Kyiv authorities to further irresponsible and extremely dangerous actions.”
It seems, however, that the point here is not at all a matter of indecision, as is fully evidenced by the wording and general tone of the resolution of the IAEA Board of Governors “Implications of the situation in Ukraine for safety, security and safeguards”, adopted at the 1613th meeting in early March 2022 of the year. It is easy to see that this biased document directly contradicts the fundamental principles of the organization’s activities, as pointed out by Russian researchers.
“Despite reliable physical protection systems, the safety of civilian nuclear facilities (CNF) depends largely on the human factor and the actions of people. The idea of attacking nuclear weapons is reckless. Nuclear facilities, their infrastructure and personnel should under no circumstances be subjected to armed attacks. Dot. This is also stated in the five principles of IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi for ensuring nuclear safety. The principles are specific, non-politicized and completely feasible.
The only possible way to secure nuclear facilities during conflicts is not to subject them to deliberate physical attack.
It would seem to be a basic principle, but some parties to conflicts neglect it. Ukrainian attacks against the Russian Zaporozhye nuclear power plant cannot be justified and are fraught with serious danger,” says the PIR Center’s draft report “Activity of civilian nuclear facilities during armed conflicts.”
R. Karchaa allows the launch of the station if the line of combat contact can be moved to a safe distance. In any case, “our country will continue to ensure the protection of the Zaporizhia NPP from Ukrainian attacks and provocations,” V. Nebenzya emphasized, adding that Moscow intends to continue to take steps aimed at strengthening nuclear and nuclear security at the plant. On April 12, The Wall Street Journal reported a possible restart of the plant by Russia with the restoration of at least one reactor. In turn, “nuclear tourist” Rafael Grossi is planning regular security checks , to coordinate which with Moscow and Kiev he is soon going to go on another voyage.
Der Friedensstifter 