IAEA chief discusses Ukraine, Russia nuclear plants with Zelenskiy, says situation fragile
UN nuclear agency head to visit Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
He visited Russia's Kursk nuclear plant last week
IAEA wants to prevent wartime nuclear accident
Updates with new Grossi comments
By Anastasiia Malenko and Max Hunder
KYIV, Sept 3 (Reuters) -U.N. nuclear agency chief Rafael Grossi, who is due to visit the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeast Ukraine on Wednesay, said the situation there was "very fragile" and the risk of a disaster remained.
Rossi was speaking at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday after meeting withPresident Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Ukrainian nuclear and energy officials. They also discussed the state of affairs atthe Kursk nuclear plant in Russia, which Ukrainian troops are close to.
The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's largest nuclear facility, fell to Russian troops soon after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and is not operating now.
Both sides have frequently accused each other of shelling it.Moscow and Kyiv both deny the accusations.
Grossi, who is director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said: "I have very often characterised (Zaporizhzhia) as very fragile. Some days we have some stability, and then there is an end, an issue, a drone impact, or like today we had one of the two existing power lines down, which means that the station is again on the verge of being on a blackout."
"Blackout — no power. No power — no cooling. No cooling — maybe you have a disaster," he said.
Russian news agencies reported on Monday that a high-voltage power supply line at the plant had automatically disconnected.
Ukraine said Russian attacks had damaged one of the two external overhead lines connecting the plant to the Ukrainian power grid. Russia has not commented on that charge.
Zelenskiy, visiting the city of Zaporizhzhia with Dutch PrimeMinister Dick Schoof on Monday, said that at this stage of the war, it was not possible for Ukraine to take back control of the plant.
Grossi, who visited Russia's Kursk plant last week, also said at Tuesday's briefing that the situations there and at Zaporizhzhia were different.
But he added: "I think it is always a risk when there is a possibility of an attack on a nuclear power plant."
Russia says the Kursk plant has been repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian forces that are just 40 km (25 miles) away since they carved out a slice of Russian territory in a cross-border incursion launched on Aug. 6.
Grossi said after visiting the Kursk plant that it was extremely fragile because it had no protective dome and that the "danger or possibility of a nuclear accident has emerged near here".
Ukraine's foreign ministry last Thursday denounced what it said were Russian efforts to accuse Ukraine of provocations that threatened nuclear safety, saying this was a "disinformation campaign to distract attention from its own criminal acts at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant".
Additional reporting by Oleksandr Kozhukhar in Kyiv and by Lidia Kelly in Melbournne, Editing by Timothy Heritage and Angus MacSwan
면책조항: XM Group 회사는 체결 전용 서비스와 온라인 거래 플랫폼에 대한 접근을 제공하여, 개인이 웹사이트에서 또는 웹사이트를 통해 이용 가능한 콘텐츠를 보거나 사용할 수 있도록 허용합니다. 이에 대해 변경하거나 확장할 의도는 없습니다. 이러한 접근 및 사용에는 다음 사항이 항상 적용됩니다: (i) 이용 약관, (ii) 위험 경고, (iii) 완전 면책조항. 따라서, 이러한 콘텐츠는 일반적인 정보에 불과합니다. 특히, 온라인 거래 플랫폼의 콘텐츠는 금융 시장에서의 거래에 대한 권유나 제안이 아닙니다. 금융 시장에서의 거래는 자본에 상당한 위험을 수반합니다.
온라인 거래 플랫폼에 공개된 모든 자료는 교육/정보 목적으로만 제공되며, 금융, 투자세 또는 거래 조언 및 권고, 거래 가격 기록, 금융 상품 또는 원치 않는 금융 프로모션의 거래 제안 또는 권유를 포함하지 않으며, 포함해서도 안됩니다.
이 웹사이트에 포함된 모든 의견, 뉴스, 리서치, 분석, 가격, 기타 정보 또는 제3자 사이트에 대한 링크와 같이 XM이 준비하는 콘텐츠 뿐만 아니라, 제3자 콘텐츠는 일반 시장 논평으로서 "현재" 기준으로 제공되며, 투자 조언으로 여겨지지 않습니다. 모든 콘텐츠가 투자 리서치로 해석되는 경우, 투자 리서치의 독립성을 촉진하기 위해 고안된 법적 요건에 따라 콘텐츠가 의도되지 않았으며, 준비되지 않았다는 점을 인지하고 동의해야 합니다. 따라서, 관련 법률 및 규정에 따른 마케팅 커뮤니케이션이라고 간주됩니다. 여기에서 접근할 수 있는 앞서 언급한 정보에 대한 비독립 투자 리서치 및 위험 경고 알림을 읽고, 이해하시기 바랍니다.
