The Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Rafael Grossi, visited President Vladimir Putin on 11 October, 2022 to discuss protection of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant amidst the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Grossi is seeking for a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the plant.
On 6 October, 2022 Grossi visited President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and said he wants the war to end and that the power plant belongs to Ukraine under international law.
President Putin, on 5 October, 2022 signed into law the Russian parliament’s approval of the result of a referendum in four occupied territories belonging to Ukraine.
In the controversial referendum held in Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk and Donetsk late September, 2022 the people voted overwhelmingly, to join Russia.
Russia has announced the take-over of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine as belonging to it, based on the outcome of that referendum and its approval.
The Ukrainian staff continued to operate it but, Russia controls the plant which it seized on 4 March, 2022.
All the six reactors in the plant are shut.
The power lines leading out of the plant are all damaged in the fighting.
In a nuclear power plant that generates power, the electricity it produces must be evacuated and used.
Though the plant is shut, it is still not safe.
This is because standby generators have to power the water pumps to pump water to cool the reactors from residual heat to avoid a meltdown and radiation leaks.
The UN and IAEA are concerned about the fighting damaging the plant and causing a nuclear disaster in the entire region and beyond.
Also, with winter coming, people need the electricity from the plant to keep warm and survive.
