By BERLIN. Dec 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi expressed hope that the nuclear safety and security protection zone around the Zaporizhia NPP would be agreed upon and implemented soon.
"We are making progress in our consultations with Ukraine and Russia and I’m hopeful the zone will be agreed and implemented soon. It is urgently needed," Grossi said in a statement posted on the agency’s website.
According to him, "the situation at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant remains precarious, fragile and potentially dangerous and we are doing everything we can to prevent a nuclear accident there."
Grossi also said that a fourth team of IAEA experts arrived at the plant this week to replace those who had been there for the past several weeks.
Earlier, Grossi repeatedly said that he considers the Zaporizhia NPP as a Ukraine-owned facility.
Since February 28, 2022, ZNPP has been under the occupation of Russian troops. Ukraine and the world community have repeatedly called on the aggressor to return control over the ZNPP to Ukraine.
ZNPP is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe in terms of installed capacity. Its six reactors VVER-1000 with a capacity of 1000 MW each were built according to the V-320 project. The first reactor was put into operation in December 1984, the sixth – in October 1995.
