The security of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, the largest in Europe, remains in suspense. Added to the concern and anxiety generated by the fact that it is the scene of war is, on the one hand, the lack of transparency in the talks to seek a reasonable solution to this situation, and on the other, the propagandistic attitudes of Russia and Ukraine.
The secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterres, yesterday visited the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, in the western city of Lviv. Both Russia and Ukraine spoke, with identical arguments, that the enemy was preparing a “provocation”, an incident at the plant to coincide with the visit.
Guterres and Zelenski agreed on the "parameters" under which an inspection of the plant would have to be carried out by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a matter pending at least since June, according to its director, Rafael Grossi, "due to political and Other considerations". It was not clear yesterday what exactly the agreed conditions would be because Zelenski later affirmed that the IAEA mission must be carried out "legally, through the territory free of occupants"; that is, with an "unconditional withdrawal" of Russian troops from the plant. Taking into account that Russia is not willing to abandon the plant, what was agreed yesterday would not go very far.
Russia seized the nuclear plant in March, as well as the surrounding region, and accuses Ukraine of firing on the facility since July 18. Ukraine, however, accuses Russia of exactly the same thing.
The IAEA director said in his last statement, on August 12 - the day after the last incident with artillery shells - that according to "the most recent information provided by Ukraine, IAEA experts have preliminarily concluded that there is no immediate threat to nuclear safety as a result of recent bombings or other military actions. However, this could change at any time.
The situation yesterday was the same. Although this time Guterres made "a call to the military forces of the Russian Federation and Ukraine to immediately cease all military activities in the vicinity of the plant and not target its facilities or its surroundings." The message should be understood as a warning, this time, to Ukraine.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, later present at a three-way meeting with Guterres and Zelenski, said at a press conference that "we are restless, we do not want to experience a new Chernobyl." "As we search for a solution, we stand by our Ukrainian friends," he added.
What the parties gathered in Lviv want is to declare the Zaporizhia power plant and its surroundings a demilitarized zone and place it under international supervision. "You have to restore the plant as a purely civilian infrastructure and ensure the security of the region." Russia flatly refuses.
Moscow accepted the IAEA's mission in principle, but yesterday, hours before the Lviv meeting, General Igor Kirillov, head of the Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces, said that Russia is willing to submit high-quality satellite images to the IAEA. resolution to prove that it has no weapons inside the nuclear plant.
Both the Russian Ministry of Defense and experts on both sides, and of course those of the IAEA, warn of the enormous risk that the containers of consumed nuclear fuel will be reached, as was about to happen on August 5 and 6. . A direct impact, they say, would cause a radioactive leak that would affect a radius of 20 or 30 kilometers from the outset. Or, according to General Kirillov, a major incident would spread radioactivity to Poland, Slovakia and Germany.
Russia accuses Ukraine of having fired on the plant a dozen times. Ukraine claims that rockets are being fired from the plant towards the city of Nikopol, on the other side of the Dnieper River. These war actions are not usually mentioned in the exchange of accusations, but the Ukrainian presidential adviser Mijailo Podoliak has mentioned as part of the "solution" to this dangerous situation "stop bombing Nikopol and abandon the plant".
Only two of the six reactors at the plant are connected to the grid. General Kirillov warned that if the Ukrainian attacks did not stop, they would turn it off. “Putting reactors 5 and 6 on cold standby can be studied, which would lead to the closure of the nuclear power plant,” he said. Kyiv believes that the Russians intend to reverse the line from the plant to send electricity to Crimea. The disconnection of the plant put forward by the Russians would not mitigate the danger, in any case, because the nuclear waste would still be there, just as exposed to a bombardment.
