IAEA chief flying to Antalya to discuss safety of Ukrainian NPPs
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi intends on Thursday to discuss the issue of safety of nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities of Ukraine in Turkey, where on the sidelines of the Anatolian Diplomatic Forum, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is scheduled to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with the participation of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.
"I am on my way to Antalya, Turkey, to discuss the urgent issue of ensuring the safety and security of Ukraine's nuclear facilities," Grossi said in Twitter from the plane Thursday morning.
Head of the State Nuclear Regulation Inspectorate of Ukraine Oleh Korikov said on March 8 that Ukraine's nuclear facilities are still under the highest threat due to the actions of the military of the Russian Federation against them, and it is impossible to say about any results of the diplomatic efforts of the IAEA and other international organizations regarding the improvement situation.
According to Korikov, along with the seizure of the territory of the Exclusion Zone and the industrial site of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, as well as the industrial site of Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, where seven nuclear units are located, artillery shelling of Kharkiv destroyed the regional oncologic dispensary, on the territory of which there are highly active radiation sources and damaged to the Neutron Source nuclear facility loaded with 37 nuclear fuel elements.
On March 9, Ukraine informed the IAEA about the blackout at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, seized by Russian invaders. Kuleba said that standby diesel generators will provide power to the station and its facilities for 48 hours, after which "the cooling system of the spent nuclear fuel storage facility will turn off, which will threaten radiation leakage."
The IAEA, in turn, said that it was concerned about this fact, but so far does not see a critical threat. The IAEA considers the heat load of the spent fuel pool and the amount of cooling water at the Chornobyl NPP to be sufficient to efficiently remove heat without the need for electricity.