Security at Zaporizhzhia NPP prioritized in Rosatom-IAEA meeting in Istanbul

By Emre Gurkan Abay

MOSCOW (AA) - Security at Europe's largest nuclear plant, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in southeastern Ukraine, has been up for discussion in Istanbul between the head of Russian nuclear power company Rosatom and the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rosatom revealed in a statement Wednesday.

The Russian company said it prioritizes security at the meeting in which both sides reviewed security issues on nuclear power plants in Russia and Ukraine.

The head Rosatom Alexey Likhachev and Director-General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi debated the IAEA's plan to send a mission to the Zaporizhzhia NPP.

A delegation from the IAEA could visit the nuclear plant in early September, the Russian representative to the UN's nuclear watchdog said last week.

The Russian side issued a statement that read it was “ready to provide all kinds of support, including logistical assistance, for the organization of the mission."

They also confirmed their agreement with the IAEA director-general to send a mission as soon as possible, or as soon as the military situation on the ground allows.

Amid rising international fears of a possible nuclear disaster, Russian and Ukrainian authorities have blamed each other for shelling near the Zaporizhzhia plant over the past several weeks.

Ukraine has reputedly demanded that the UN and other international bodies push Russian forces out of the Zaporizhzhia plant, which has been under Russian control since March.

The IAEA has urged "utmost restraint" around the site.

*Writing by Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu