The Russian invaders once again mined the ZNPP they occupied. This was announced by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in his statement.
“The mines around the perimeter of the ZNPP, in the buffer zone between the internal and external fences of the facility, which were previously detected by the IAEA team and removed in November 2023, are now back in place.
This is a closed area, inaccessible to the working personnel of the station.
Director General Grossi reiterated that the presence of mines is contrary to IAEA safety standards.” – he wrote
He also added that this week the ZNPP was left without backup power supply to the reactor units for several hours. This highlights the ongoing risks to nuclear safety at the station.
In addition, the IAEA specialists discussed the activities and maintenance plan for 2024 with ZNPP employees. The safety of the station depends on this.
“The IAEA team did not receive a copy of the maintenance plan for detailed review. However, based on the discussions and information provided to the team, the IAEA concluded that the ZNPP will not implement a comprehensive maintenance plan during 2024.”
The experts continued their rounds on the site, they familiarized themselves with the level of staffing at the block boards. But the international experts failed to ask questions about their qualifications and experience.
In addition, the occupiers did not give scientists access to a large part of the facilities at the station. We are talking about reactor and turbine halls, some roofs of reactors.
As Grossi notes, such access is necessary for monitoring nuclear and physical nuclear security, as well as compliance with five specific principles of plant protection.
It will be recalled that in the summer “Ukraine-Russia News Hub” showed satellite images of the ZNPP mined by the Russians.
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