UN nuclear watchdog blocked from inspecting Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia reactor halls under control of Russian military
- IAEA experts ‘for the past two weeks … have not been allowed to access the reactor halls of units 1, 2 and 6,’ said IAEA director general Rafael Grossi
- Grossi said his team will continue to request access to the reactor halls, where the reactor core and spent fuel are located
The UN nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday it had recently been blocked for the first time from inspecting the reactor halls of three units of Ukraine’s Russian-held Zaporizhzhia power plant, further limiting access to the site.
The nuclear plant has been at the centre of fighting since it was captured by Russian forces in 2022, and both sides have accused each other of compromising its safety.
The surroundings of the plant have been repeatedly targeted by shelling, which resulted in the plant being severed from the grid several times, raising fears of a major nuclear accident.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts “for the past two weeks … have not been allowed to access the reactor halls of units 1, 2 and 6,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in a statement.
“This is the first time that IAEA experts have not been granted access to a reactor hall of a unit that was in cold shutdown,” the statement added.