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During a walkdown on 23 July, IAEA experts have observed directional anti-personnel mines on the periphery of the site of #Ukraine’s #Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, Director General @rafaelmgrossi said today. https://t.co/NPTr5apDCP pic.twitter.com/99U8Yvem9J
— IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency ⚛️ (@iaeaorg) July 24, 2023
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts have observed directional anti-personnel mines on the periphery of the site of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today.
During a walkdown on 23 July, the IAEA team saw some mines located in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers. The experts reported that they were situated in a restricted area that operating plant personnel cannot access and were facing away from the site. The team did not observe any within the inner site perimeter during the walkdown.
“As I have reported earlier, the IAEA has been aware of the previous placement of mines outside the site perimeter and also at particular places inside. Our team has raised this specific finding with the plant and they have been told that it is a military decision, and in an area controlled by military,” Director General Grossi said.
“But having such explosives on the site is inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance and creates additional psychological pressure on plant staff – even if the IAEA’s initial assessment based on its own observations and the plant’s clarifications is that any detonation of these mines should not affect the site’s nuclear safety and security systems. The team will continue its interactions with the plant,” he added.
In recent days and weeks, the IAEA experts present at the ZNPP have carried out inspections and regular walkdowns across the site, without seeing any heavy military equipment. The IAEA is also continuing to request access to the roofs of the ZNPP’s reactors and their turbine halls, including units 3 and 4 which are of particular interest.
Earlier today, the experts visited the reactor unit 6 main control room, emergency control room, the rooms where electrical cabinets of the safety systems are located, and parts of the turbine hall where they saw the main feedwater pumps, main turbine oil tank and main condenser. While the team was not able to visit all areas in the turbine hall, they did not observe any mines or explosives.
In the evening of 22 July, the IAEA team heard several detonations some distance away from the plant.
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Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.