DISINFO: The IAEA is satisfied with the state of the Zaporizhzhia NPP under Russian control
SUMMARY
The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi arrived in Russia to meet with Putin. At the beginning of February [2024], [he] visited Kyiv for the fourth time with the IAEA delegation, where he met with Zelensky, and from there, across the contact line, he visited the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Grossi was satisfied with the technical condition of the station and the qualifications of the engineering and technical personnel.
RESPONSE
A gross twisting and misrepresentation turning facts upside down. This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about nuclear issues in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In February-March 2024, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi made three working trips dedicated to the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, occupied by the Russian army in violation of international safety protocols.
During the tour, Grossi came to Kyiv, where he discussed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the current security situation at the seized Zaporizhzhia NPP and the risks posed by its occupation by Russian troops. At the same time, Grossi emphasized that “there is absolutely no place for complacency or to believe that everything is stabilized there. Far from it.”
After the meeting with Zelenskyy, Grossi visited Zaporizhzhia NPP. He warned the Russians regarding the restart of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, emphasizing that the plant does not comply with the basic safety principles established by the UN Security Council.
Grossi noted that the station is located on the front line and is subject to shelling, currently under Russian occupation and used as a warehouse for heavy weapons, and the nuclear power plant is left without a stable source of electricity and water supply.
Grossi also emphasized that the main problem of Zaporizhzhia NPP is qualified personnel at the station, since Russia does not allow employees of the national operator Energoatom to enter the Ukrainian facility. In addition, Russia refuses to allow IAEA experts into most of the turbine rooms and equipment of the Zaporizhzhia NPP.
Grossi’s meeting with Putin on March 6, 2024 did not change the situation and did not reduce significant risks to nuclear safety at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, the IAEA noted in a statement following the meeting. It is emphasized that in the first days of March 2024 alone, IAEA experts who were at the site witnessed three shelling attacks coming from the territory of the Zaporizhzhia NPP. According to the IAEA, the explosions indicate the use of heavy weapons from the area near the plant.
On November 17, 2023, the IAEA adopted a resolution on the security of Ukrainian nuclear plants in light of ongoing Russian attacks on critical infrastructure in Ukraine. The IAEA once again called on Russia to withdraw its troops from the Ukrainian nuclear facility and emphasized that the Russian side did not heed the Council’s calls to immediately cease all actions against and at nuclear facilities in Ukraine. The IAEA also called on Russia to abandon its unfounded claims to ownership of the plant, cease any activities at Ukrainian nuclear facilities and return access to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to competent Ukrainian operators.
See similar disinformation cases claiming that the UK is supervising the preparation of a provocation at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant by Kyiv and that Ukraine may blow the Zaporizhzhia nuclear site up to cover up the failure of the counter-offensive.