IAEA denies reports of explosives planted at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

On June 20, Mr. Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), rejected the Ukrainian government 's statement that the cooling pool of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was booby-trapped with explosives.

“The IAEA has received reports of mines near the cooling pond. However, no mines have been found at the site, including the cooling pond,” Grossi wrote in a report on the situation at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant after a visit to the plant on June 15.

The head of the IAEA said some mines had been identified outside the plant’s perimeter and a few at locations inside. But security officials at Zaporizhzhia explained that the explosives at the plant were for defensive purposes only.

“While the presence of any explosive devices would not be in accordance with safety standards, we assess that the explosives at those specific locations would not compromise the primary safety function of the facility,” Mr. Grossi added.

His report comes after claims by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his adviser, Mikhail Podoliak, that Russia was preparing a "terrorist attack" on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

IAEA denies explosives planted at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant - 1 — Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi during a visit to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on June 15. (Photo: IAEA)

Earlier, President Zelensky wrote on his personal Twitter on June 22 that Ukrainian intelligence had received information that Russia was planning “a terrorist attack using radioactive leaks” , adding that “ the world has been warned, so we need to act”.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Podoliak also claimed that Russia is “considering a large-scale terrorist attack on Zaporizhzhia to prevent a Ukrainian counteroffensive, create a depopulated gray zone and exploit the cooling pool”.

On the same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticized President Zelensky's statement as "a lie" and affirmed that Russia had fully cooperated with the IAEA. Moscow accused Kiev of being behind the destruction of the Kakhovka dam earlier this month - an incident that the IAEA described as a potential threat to Zaporizhzhia's cooling water supply.

Russia has also accused Ukraine of repeatedly attacking the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, including an attempted commando raid in September 2022, when an IAEA mission was en route to the site. The most recent attack on the plant occurred on June 9, when Russian air defenses reportedly shot down three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) heading toward the plant.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has six reactors and is located in Energodar, on the right bank of the Dnieper River. Currently, five of the plant's six reactors are offline. The last reactor is operated by the Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation (Rosatom) on standby.

Phuong Thao (Source: russian.rt.com)

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