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'Mad Panic' Near Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Leads IAEA to Sound Alarm
The situation is 'becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous'
May 07, 2023
The situation Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has taken a turn for the worse as Russia has begun evacuating 18 settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region, including Enerhodar.
The BBC has cited as Ukrainian official as saying this has sparked a "mad panic" - and traffic jams have been observed as thousands of people pack up and head out of the city.
The exiled mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, wrote on Telegram that shops in the evacuated areas had run out of goods and medicine. He also said hospitals were discharging patients into the street amid fears that electricity and water supplies could be suspended.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA ) experts still at the plant site are continuing to hear shelling on a regular basis, including Friday night. Ukrainian authorities on Sunday said that a 72-year-old woman was killed and three others were wounded when Russian forces fired more than 30 shells at Nikopol, a Ukrainian-held town neighboring the nuclear plant.
The situation is “becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous,” the head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said Saturday.
\u201cThe head of the illegal occupation administration of the occupied part of #Zaporizhzhia region announced the "temporary relocation" of residents of 18 settlements along the front line. It is not yet known how voluntary this relocation is.\u201d— Ivan Fedorov (@Ivan Fedorov) 1683297291
International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement :
“The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous."
"I’m extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant."
"We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment. This major nuclear facility must be protected."
"I will continue to press for a commitment by all sides to achieve this vital objective, and the IAEA will continue to do everything it can to help ensure nuclear safety and security at the plant,” he said.
\u201cRussian Telegram channels publish a video of a large line of buses in temporarily occupied Berdiansk after Russia announced evacuation in parts of Zaporizhzhia region.\n\nThat's similar to what happened in Kherson region before the "goodwill gesture" - deportation of citizens.\u201d— Anton Gerashchenko (@Anton Gerashchenko) 1683357489
The expected Ukrainian spring counter-offensive is viewed as likely to take in the Zaporizhzhia region, around 80% of which is controlled by Russian forces.
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'One Day Our Luck Will Run Out,' Warns IAEA Chief Over Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant
"What are we doing? How can we sit here in this room this morning and allow this to happen? This cannot go on," International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said following a massive Russian attack on Ukraine.
Mar 09, 2023
The largest nuclear energy plant in Europe, located in southern Ukraine, lost all off-site power for the sixth time in a year as Russian forces carried out a massive missile attack on Thursday, once again raising fears of a nuclear catastrophe with continent-wide implications.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, expressed dismay over the repeated near-misses at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and said he is "astonished by the complacency" in the face of such a threat.
"What are we doing? How can we sit here in this room this morning and allow this to happen? This cannot go on," Grossi said in a statement to the IAEA Board of Governors. "Each time we are rolling a dice. And if we allow this to continue time after time then one day our luck will run out. I call on everyone in this room today and elsewhere—we must commit to protect the safety and security of the plant. And we need to commit now."
Grossi noted that Thursday marked the first time since November that the nuclear plant has lost all off-site power, sparking the activation of emergency diesel generators. The IAEA chief said there is enough diesel at the facility to power it for just over two weeks.
A constant supply of power to the plant is necessary to prevent a nuclear meltdown.
"This is the sixth time—let me say it again, this is the sixth time—that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has lost all off-site power and has had to operate in this emergency mode," Grossi said. "Let me remind you—this is the largest nuclear power station in Europe."
Rafael Mariano Grossi
Russian forces currently control the nuclear facility, which IAEA inspectors visited in September following months of grave safety concerns.
In the wake of the trip, the United Nations agency issued a report warning that "any further escalation affecting the six-reactor plant could lead to a severe nuclear accident with potentially grave radiological consequences for human health and the environment in Ukraine and elsewhere."
Last March, Greenpeace released an analysis similarly cautioning that a Zaporizhzhia disaster could "render vast areas of the European continent, including Russia, uninhabitable for decades."
Energoatom, Ukraine's state nuclear energy operator, told the Associated Press on Thursday that the power supply to Zaporizhzhia can be restored "within a day or two" and that emergency fixes to a disconnected power line are underway.
Energoatom has accused the Russian forces occupying the plant of compromising its physical integrity. Citing the nuclear energy firm, The New York Times reported earlier this week that "Russian soldiers have recently set up machine guns on the grounds of the plant, placed military equipment in engine rooms, covered windows with sandbags, and even carried out indoor welding work that has set off fire alarms."
"Those actions come on top of damage from shelling last summer, including to an area where spent nuclear fuel is stored; disruptions to the plant's management in power struggles with Russian occupiers; and the shutdown of the complex's six reactors," the Times noted.
During Thursday's barrage, Russia reportedly launched more than 80 missiles in the direction of Ukrainian cities—dozens of which were intercepted, according to Ukrainian officials.
AP reported that "the Russian Defense Ministry said the strikes were in retaliation for a recent incursion into the Bryansk region of western Russia by what Moscow claimed were Ukrainian saboteurs. Ukraine denied the claim and warned that Moscow could use the allegations to justify stepping up its own assaults."
The bombardment came as the prospect of a diplomatic resolution to the war in the near future appeared virtually nonexistent after more than a year of deadly fighting, with Russia continuing its assault on Ukraine while western governments—principally the United States—continue to pump weapons into the war zone.
"Let there be no doubt: Putin should immediately stop this insanity in Ukraine," The Intercept's Jeremy Scahill wrote in a column last week. "This is a gruesome and murderous campaign he's engaged in, and the death toll is shocking. The Biden administration should do what we are constantly told is untenable, unrealistic, or characterized as appeasement: make a negotiated end to the war the top priority."
"It's a reasonable position for people watching this bloodbath to want to do everything possible to help Ukrainians defend themselves, and supporting weapons transfers to Ukraine does not make you a pawn of the U.S. imperial state," Scahill continued. "But the argument over whether the U.S. and NATO should be giving military aid is a trap because it's presented as a binary choice. What has our government done to seek alternative paths? Has it exhausted all diplomatic efforts?"
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'Playing With Fire': IAEA Issues Urgent Warning After Visit to Ukraine Nuclear Plant
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres endorsed the nuclear watchdog's new report, warning that any damage "to Zaporizhzhia—or to any other nuclear facility in Ukraine—could spell catastrophe."
Sep 07, 2022
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned Tuesday that "something very, very catastrophic could take place" if shelling persists at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the subject of a new report issued by United Nations inspectors who visited the facility last week.
"The hits that this facility has received and that I could personally see and assess together with my experts is simply unacceptable," said IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi. "We are playing with fire."
The IAEA report published on Tuesday lays out specific recommendations to address what Grossi, who led a 14-member team from the Vienna-based nuclear watchdog to Zaporizhzhia last week, has called the "seven indispensable pillars for ensuring nuclear safety and security in Ukraine."
Although the first pillar calls for not violating the physical integrity of nuclear facilities, "this happened, and continues to happen," Grossi told the U.N. Security Council, of which Russia is one of five permanent members with veto power, on Tuesday.
As the U.N. summarized:
The report proposes setting up a nuclear safety and security protection zone that would be limited to the perimeter and the plant itself.
Other recommendations call for removing all military vehicles and equipment from nuclear buildings at the site and ensuring the return to clear and routine responsibilities for staff, in addition to re-establishing an "appropriate" work environment.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday endorsed the recommendations outlined in the IAEA report, reiterating his call for Russian and Ukrainian forces to cease fighting near Zaporizhzhia--where repeated shelling in recent weeks has sparked fears of a far-reaching disaster--and for the creation of a demilitarized perimeter around the facility.
"Any damage, whether intentional or not, to Europe's largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia--or to any other nuclear facility in Ukraine--could spell catastrophe, not only for the immediate vicinity, but for the region and beyond," said Guterres. "All steps must be taken to avoid such a scenario."
"Common sense and cooperation must guide the way forward," Guterres continued. "Any action that might endanger the physical integrity, safety, or security of the nuclear plant is unacceptable."
"As a first step, Russian and Ukrainian forces must commit not to engage in any military activity towards the plant site or from the plant site," said the U.N. chief. "The Zaporizhzhia facility and its surroundings must not be a target or a platform for military operations."
"As a second step, an agreement on a demilitarized perimeter should be secured," he added. "Specifically, that would include a commitment by Russian forces to withdraw all military personnel and equipment from that perimeter and a commitment by Ukrainian forces not to move into it."
In addition, "operators at the plant must be able to carry out their responsibilities, and communications must be maintained," said Guterres. "Now is the time to urgently agree on concrete measures to ensure the safety of the area."
A pair of IAEA inspectors will remain stationed indefinitely at Zaporizhzhia, where Ukrainian technicians have been working under the control of Russian soldiers since March.
"I trust that the IAEA experts now deployed to Zaporizhzhia will be able to carry out their work without hindrance and contribute to ensuring lasting nuclear safety and security in the plan," said Guterres. "All of us have a stake in the success of their critical mission."
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