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Nov. 3 () –
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed this Thursday the second rotation of the team of professionals that it has deployed at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, located in the region of the same name, annexed by Russia at the end of September.
“Thanks to the support of all stakeholders, we were able to successfully carry out a staff rotation at the Zaporizhia NPP a few hours ago,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.
“I am deeply grateful to all our experts, both those who arrive and those who leave, for their determination and courage in carrying out important protection and safety activities at the plant,” Grossi added, according to the IAEA in a release.
The new team will continue to monitor ‘in situ’ the situation of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, in the vicinity of which Ukrainian and Russian forces have crossed attacks in recent months. The IAEA has called in vain for the creation of a safe area in the immediate vicinity.
The plant is located in a region that Russia now claims as its own and, in fact, in the same week as the first staff rotation, the president, Vladimir Putin, issued a decree establishing that the facilities should also officially pass at Russian hands –they already control them ‘de facto’ since the beginning of March–.
