FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL

Posted On

01
March
2023

Rotation of IAEA expert team at Zaporizhia NPP delayed by over three weeks

KYIV. March 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Rotation of the IAEA expert team, who is currently at the site of the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), is delayed by more than three weeks, according to the IAEA website, citing agency’s director general Rafael Mariano Grossi.

“He said he hoped the rotation could finally take place later this week and renewed his appeal for constructive efforts by all involved parties to make this happen, saying the important nuclear safety and security work of the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhia (ISAMZ) was in everybody’s interest,” the website notes.

As the director general noted, he continued his diplomatic efforts to agree on and implement the nuclear safety and security protection zone at the Zaporizhia NPP as quickly as possible.

Director General Grossi said reminded of the fragile external power situation for the ZNPP, which currently receives the external electricity it needs for nuclear safety and security from the sole remaining operational 750 kV off-site power line, out of four that connected the site to the grid before the conflict began a year ago.

On a more re-assuring note, Director General Grossi said the water level in the main reservoir forming part of the Dnipro River, which provides cooling water for the ZNPP, had stabilised in recent weeks following the previously reported reduction in the amount of water held by the Kakhovka dam. By design, the large cooling pond next to the ZNPP reactor units is kept above the level of the reservoir.

The five IAEA teams present at Ukraine’s NPPs continue to review the nuclear safety and security situation at all the sites against the IAEA Seven Indispensable Pillars for ensuring nuclear safety and security during an armed conflict and to support the identification of further assistance to the nuclear facilities.