According to IAEA chief Grossi, no radioactive radiation escaped from the attacked nuclear facility in Ukraine. He was concerned – and wants to travel to Ukraine.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director Rafael Mariano Grossi is willing to travel personally to Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant to conduct an on-site safety assessment. “I’m ready to come,” says Grossi at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna. According to Grossi, no radioactive radiation has escaped from the nuclear facility apparently attacked by Russia in Ukraine. The IAEA is in contact with the Ukrainian nuclear supervisory authority and the affected Zaporizhia nuclear facility. According to him, two security guards were injured.
Expert sees no immediate danger
The Society for Plant and Reactor Safety (GRS) sees no immediate danger of a nuclear accident. According to the Ukrainian supervisory authority, the site is surrounded or occupied by Russian troops, said the head of the international projects department, Sebastian Stransky, of the dpa news agency. “Currently, according to the regulatory authority, the power plant is in a safe condition and is being operated by the operating team in accordance with operating regulations,” said Stransky. A building on the site of the nuclear plant was hit in the attack. The building does not belong to the reactor. It was a training building. The fire caused was extinguished. According to GRS, safety-relevant parts are not affected. Of the six blocks in the system, only one is currently connected to the grid. The other shut down blocks would be in shutdown mode. In this state, the fuel elements would have to be permanently post-cooled. “The heat is dissipated with the normal systems provided for this purpose.” Stransky emphasized that all six units are in a safe state from a nuclear point of view. He is an engineer for nuclear energy technology and specializes in the Russian-made reactor type operated in Zaporizhia.
Greenpeace nuclear expert worried
Nuclear physicist Heinz Smital has expressed concern. “As far as I know, only Block 4 is still running, the fire affects the training center,” wrote the nuclear expert from the environmental protection organization Greenpeace on Twitter early in the morning. The danger of a meltdown is not immediate. “Chernobyl had a graphite core, carried radioactivity to high altitudes and spread as far as Europe, that’s not the case here.” The situation is still critical.
International lawyers: Targeted attack on nuclear power plant War crimes
According to international law expert Claus Kress, a targeted Russian attack on a Ukrainian nuclear power plant would be classified as a war crime. “A targeted attack on a civilian nuclear power plant, yes, that would be a war crime,” said the Cologne scientist on Deutschlandfunk. Such a case would fall within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. There, Kress advises chief prosecutor Karim Khan, who has launched official investigations into war crimes in Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia.
Stoltenberg: Ruthlessness in Warfare
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg sharply condemned the advance of Russian troops to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. Reports of the attack show the ruthlessness with which the war is being waged and how important it is to end it, Stoltenberg said on the sidelines of a special meeting of foreign ministers from the Allied countries in Brussels.
