Nuclear watchdog calls for Zaporizhzhia safety zone to prevent nuclear accidentThe International Atomic Energey Agency said on Friday conditions at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are increasingly precarious and that a safety zone around it needs to be established immediately to prevent a nuclear accident.
IAEA director Rafael Mariano Grossi said that there is minimal chance of re-establishing reliable offsite power lines to the plant and its Ukrainian operator is considering shutting down the only remaining operating reactor.
This would leave the plant fully dependent on emergency diesel generators to provide electricity for vital nuclear safety functions.
“This is an unsustainable situation and is becoming increasingly precarious,” Grossi said, the Associated Press reports.
“The power plant has no offsite power. And we have seen that once infrastructure is repaired, it is damaged once again,” he said. “This is completely unacceptable. It cannot stand.”
Grossi called for an “immediate cessation of all shelling in the entire area” and the establishment of a nuclear safety and security protection zone.
“This is the only way to ensure that we do not face a nuclear accident,” he said.