Tuesday

28th Nov 2023

Nuclear chief on Zaporizhzhia: 'How long will we be lucky?'

  • International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi at the foreign affairs ministers meeting on Monday (Photo: Council of the European Union)
Listen to article

The international nuclear agency's chief has urged MEPs to use their influence to push for a combat-free zone around Europe's largest nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.

Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told MEPs on Tuesday (24 January) that the situation around Zaporizhzhia is "pretty intense".

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"The establishment of a protection zone is ever more urgent and needed. This is an active combat zone, this nuclear power plant with six reactors is lying on the frontline," he said.

"I don't know for how long we are going to be lucky in avoiding a nuclear accident," Grossi said, adding that the protection zone would help avoiding that.

Grossi has spent last week in Ukraine in negotiations and is heading to Russia mid-February to seek an agreement on the protection zone.

"For months Russian armed forces have been using these Ukrainian power plants as safe havens to store ammunition and launch attacks on neighbouring areas," German MEP David McAllister, chair of the foreign affairs committee, said after the meeting.

"We do hope negotiations will conclude shortly, allowing for early establishment of this protection zone," French MEP Nathalie Loiseau said.

Grossi described Zaporizhzhia as a "flash point' in the war, as it is on Russian occupied territory.

"It has this quite bizarre situation: a Ukrainian facility in Russian-controlled territory, managed by Russians, but operated by Ukrainians," Grossi said.

"We have had serious cases of direct shelling especially late August and then in November, when we had another two days of direct bombing shelling," Grossi said.

He added that blackouts caused by the shelling are a "very dangerous thing", as power is needed to maintain the cooling system of the plant needs electricity.

There is a permanent presence of IAEA experts and inspectors, which Grossi said he left as a "fait accompli" there last year before the agreement between the two combat sides.

Grossi said the plant is not producing energy for the Ukraine grid, but it is not shut down completely as a low-level operation is needed to keep the safety systems working.

The IAEA chief said he aims for an "abstention of military action in and around the plant".

"There is a purely military aspect to what we are asking for," he said, adding that Russia would have to commit to not place rocket launchers, or heavy artillery around the plant.

"We need a political decisions," Grossi said, who on Monday also briefed EU foreign affairs ministers on his talks.

The Russian army last week said its troops launched an offensive in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, where fighting intensified after several months of an almost frozen frontline.

Opinion

Ukraine's 2035 coal phase-out needs concrete plan now

Ukraine has confirmed its 2035 coal exit — but only a detailed plan to phase out coal and replace it with renewables will secure its independence from Russia, fast-track EU membership, and contribute to the fight against climate change.

Column

How EU can push China to live up to its 2013 guarantees to Ukraine

Brussels can also go further and warn Moscow that any nuclear incident — for example, at facilities such as Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, under Russian control since March 2022 — will also be considered a nuclear attack.

Opinion

What's Slovakia's Fico up to over Ukraine?

It is high time for Slovak PM Robert Fico to realise that any display of compliance or even understanding towards Moscow constitutes a threat to what Fico calls the "national-state interest of Slovakia", writes the former prime minister of Slovakia.

Opinion

Belgium, France, Spain must halt their Kremlin gas deals

What remains baffling, to Ukrainians fighting for their country and environmental NGOs fighting to save the planet, is that terminals in Belgium and France continue to serve as transshipment points for Russian LNG cargoes destined for India and China.

Latest News

  1. Member states stall on EU ban on forced-labour products
  2. EU calls for increased fuel supplies into Gaza
  3. People-smuggling profits at historic high, EU concedes
  4. EU bets big on fossil hydrogen and carbon storage
  5. How centre-right conservatives capitulate to the far-right
  6. My experience trying to negotiate with Uber
  7. Key battlegrounds in EU's new media legislation
  8. EU 'shocked' by Israel's war-time settler surge

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  2. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  4. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  5. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us