“These thoughtless attacks“, the first to directly target the largest power plant in Europe since November 2022, “must cease immediately“, pleaded Rafael Grossi during a meeting of the UN Security Council dedicated to this issue. “Although fortunately they did not cause a radiological incident this time, they significantly increased the risk at the Zaporizhzhia power plant, where nuclear safety is already compromised.“, added the director general of the UN body, which has experts on site.
The 6 reactors shut down
They also constitute a “dangerous precedent, having successfully reached the containment structure of a reactor“.”Two years of war weigh heavily on the safety of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Each of the IAEA’s seven pillars of nuclear security and safety have been compromised. We cannot stand by and wait for one last weight to tip the balance into an unstable balance.“, he pleaded.
“We are getting dangerously close to a nuclear accident“, he insisted, calling for a “roll of the dice does not decide what will happen tomorrow“. Even if the 6 reactors of the plant are shut down, “the potential dangers of a major nuclear accident remain very real“.
