Nuclear inspectors concerned
New York Times
Calls for no-fire zone at Ukraine nuclear plant
The U.N. nuclear watchdog has called for a no-fire zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex after nuclear inspectors, who had to wend their way through the battlefield to get to the plant, said they were “gravely concerned” about conditions there.
The inspectors reported having found Russian military equipment parked inside buildings, as well as damage to buildings housing fresh nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. Plant operators, they said, were being denied access to some parts of the facility. The on-site emergency center has been compromised and is being used by Russian military personnel, the inspectors said.
But the agency has no real power to stop shelling near the plant, for which neither Russia nor Ukraine will take responsibility and which could result in a Chernobyl-like nuclear disaster. The nuclear agency has left two inspectors at the plant to monitor conditions, and it said it was prepared to start consultations with both sides over a security zone around the plant.
Quotable: “We are playing with fire, and something very, very catastrophic could take place,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, the U.N. official who led the inspectors, said.
Calls for no-fire zone at Ukraine nuclear plant
The U.N. nuclear watchdog has called for a no-fire zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex after nuclear inspectors, who had to wend their way through the battlefield to get to the plant, said they were “gravely concerned” about conditions there.
The inspectors reported having found Russian military equipment parked inside buildings, as well as damage to buildings housing fresh nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. Plant operators, they said, were being denied access to some parts of the facility. The on-site emergency center has been compromised and is being used by Russian military personnel, the inspectors said.
But the agency has no real power to stop shelling near the plant, for which neither Russia nor Ukraine will take responsibility and which could result in a Chernobyl-like nuclear disaster. The nuclear agency has left two inspectors at the plant to monitor conditions, and it said it was prepared to start consultations with both sides over a security zone around the plant.
Quotable: “We are playing with fire, and something very, very catastrophic could take place,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, the U.N. official who led the inspectors, said.
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