During his visit to the territory of the ZNPP, Grossi pointed to the need to agree on one important thing — the nuclear power plant should not be attacked and used for attacks in the other direction.
The idea is the basis of a new concept, currently being developed to protect the ZNPP, the IAEA chief said, adding that it envisages narrowing the safety zone around the plant. He insists that new measures have to be taken in order to protect the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant as situation here is not getting better. According to Grossi, hostilities around the area are intensifying so the agency is developing a new protection concept for the plant, and discusses this issue with Russia and Ukraine.
Grossi arrived at the ZNPP earlier in the day and inspected the site together with the plant's management and responsible technical staff. This was Grossi's second visit to the plant and the first since September 1 last year, when he established a permanent IAEA expert presence there. Grossi is paying a visit to the ZNPP "to assess first-hand the serious nuclear safety and security situation at the facility and underline the urgent need to protect it during the ongoing military conflict in the country," the IAEA said.
Rosenergoatom, a subsidiary of Russian state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom supports the stance of IAEA head Rafael Grossi that the ZNPP should not be used as a target or for blackmail, Rosenergoatom spokesman Renat Karchaa said on Wednesday.
"We fully support the position of the IAEA and Mr. Grossi on the inadmissibility of using the ZNPP as a target, but we are also categorically against the use of the plant as an instrument of blackmail and manipulation," Karchaa told reporters after inspecting the plant's territory with Grossi.
The Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, under the control of Russian forces since March, is persitently shelled shelled by Ukrainian militants. Moscow has repeatedly warned that such attacks should be considered as acts of nuclear terrorism.