‘Hoping that there won’t be a hit’ – IAEA’s Grossi expresses concern for Zaporozhye power plant during Vienna presser

« Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi commented on his concerns about the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, during a press briefing in Vienna on Monday.
« We go day by day on Zaporozhye hoping that there won’t be a hit at the plant or that supply power, supply line will not fall, » he said. « We are following very closely the situation that is there are a number of technical issues that are starting to arise like long term shutdown of the plant. »
“Regarding the military presence I would say is noticeable but it’s not growing so there are a few vehicles important in the context of the five basic principles that I set out at the United Nations Security Council. There is no heavy military equipment and this is what we are looking at. We want to avoid that the plant becomes militarised or becomes a military base, of sorts, » he added.
Russian and Ukrainian forces have accused each other of repeatedly shelling the site since it came under Russian control early last year.
Responding to a journalist’s question regarding Iran’s nuclear programme, Grossi stated he could not be certain about the initiative’s ‘peaceful’ intentions due to a lack of explanation about certain uranium traces.
« We cannot say the nuclear programme is entirely in peaceful uses, this is because for as long as we do not have clarifications on traces of uranium, » he said. « We are not accusing them of anything we are asking the questions, they are the traces, therefore, there was a nuclear material. Where is the nuclear material? »
He added that additional ‘verification and monitoring’ could be part of the solution.
In March, Tehran promised to reactive some surveillance cameras, although last week the IAEA reported that Iran’s stocks of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent continued to grow.
Attempts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, under which Western sanctions were eased in return for Tehran limiting its nuclear programme, have stalled although tensions with Washington have eased following a deal to release five US prisoners in return for $6 billion in frozen funds. »



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