The International Atomic Energy Agency is pleading for the world to come to an agreement on how nuclear facilities in war-torn Ukraine will be properly maintained during Russia’s ongoing assault on the nation.
“We cannot afford to lose any more time. We need to act now,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a Wednesday statement that did not mention Russia or its President Vladimir Putin directly.
“I remain gravely concerned about the safety and security of the nuclear facilities in Ukraine,” Grossi said. “We have been and will remain in close and continuing contact with the Ukrainian Government, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, and the nuclear operator Energoatom.”
Grossi offered to personally come to Ukraine to help address the situation. Any agreement, he said, “would include substantial assistance and support measures, including on-site presence of IAEA experts at different facilities in Ukraine, as well as the delivery of vital safety equipment.”
“This assistance is essential to help avert the real risk of a severe nuclear accident that could threaten public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond,” Grossi said.
Through nerve-wracking bombing campaigns over the last month, Russian troops have forcibly taken control of two nuclear facilities: the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is the largest such facility in Europe, and the Chernobyl nuclear plant, which was the site of a catastrophic meltdown in 1986.
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