TOKYO, Jul 8 To protect the Zaporozhye NPP a realistic and workable alternative proposal must be made, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, who visited Japan July 4-7, told Japanese NHK television.
“If an accident occurs at the Zaporozhye NPP, who will be to blame? We can only blame ourselves. Because it will be an artificial accident. It will happen due to the fact that some people could not prevent others from doing something so that happened,» Grossi said. He noted that in the event of an accident, this would be the fundamental difference from the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant.
«Whether we like it or not, there really is a war going on and there is a nuclear plant… Therefore, we must come up with an alternative realistic and feasible plan to protect the plant. Some people ask me why I do not evacuate the plant. I would like to. I tried create a defensive zone. However, a counter-offensive has begun, and the military command cannot accept the fact that there will be territory where they cannot go. This is absolutely unacceptable,» Grossi said.
Rafael Grossi was in Japan on a visit in connection with plans to release weakly radioactive water from the accidental Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant into the ocean. During his four days in the country, he visited the station, spoke with residents, fishermen and administrations of Fukushima Prefecture, and held two extended press conferences. In their course, he, in particular, touched upon the topic of the ZNPP, stating both on July 4 and July 7 that the IAEA experts did not find any explosives or signs of mining.
The Agency has requested additional access necessary to confirm the absence of mines or explosives on the site. In particular, it was about access to the roofs of reactor blocks No. 3 and No. 4, as well as parts of the turbine halls and some parts of the station's cooling system. On Friday, Grossi said that some progress had been made in obtaining a permit, and although the experts have not yet hit the roofs of the power units, he is confident that such a permit will be obtained.
Zaporozhye NPP is located on the left bank of the Dnieper near the town of Energodar. This is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe in terms of the number of units and installed capacity — the station has six power units with a capacity of 1 gigawatt each. In October 2022, the nuclear power plant became the property of the Russian Federation. The Ukrainian military continues to regularly shell Enerhodar and the territory of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant adjacent to the city. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the Kiev regime seeks to create the appearance of a threat of a nuclear catastrophe by continuing to purposefully shell the ZNPP. The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly stated the need to create a security zone around the ZNPP.
Earlier, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he had received a report from the Intelligence and Security Service of Ukraine, according to which Russia allegedly prepared and is considering a scenario of a terrorist act with a release of radiation at the ZNPP. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called this statement nonsense. Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said at a meeting of the Security Council of the organization that Russia hopes that Western patrons of Kyiv will not let him organize a disaster at the ZNPP. Nebenzya noted that the IAEA mission headed by Director General Rafael Grossi, who visited the station in June, «despite all the obstacles from Ukraine,» could be convinced of the absurdity of such statements.