Returning To PLTN Zaporizhia In The Middle Of The Russia-Ukraine War, IAEA Head Rafael Grossi: I Won't Give Up

Rafael Grossi and the IAEA team departed for PLTN Zaporizhia. (Twitter/@rafaelmgrossi)

JAKARTA - The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog visited Russia-controlled Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine on Wednesday, as part of efforts to prevent the risk of an atomic accident.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), arrived by car at Europe's largest nuclear power plant to review the situation there, a IAEA spokesman said.

This is Grossi's second visit to PLTN Zaporizhia since the PLTN was seized by Russian troops. Grossi's group and the IAEA team of experts reportedly arrived at PLTN under Russian military escort.

It said Grossi wanted to assess directly "the nuclear security and safety situation", continuing efforts to mediate an agreement to protect the nuclear power plant.

"I will not give up in any way. I think otherwise, we need to multiply our efforts, we have to continue," Grossi told Reuters.

Involved in the war, Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of shooting at the site of the power plant over the past year. Grossi himself has pushed for a security agreement between Ukraine and Russia to protect the facility.

Furthermore, Grossi said the situation at the PLTN was still "very dangerous" and "very unstable", while military activity in the region had increased in recent weeks.

It is known that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is an important part of Ukraine's energy grid, and supplies about 20 percent of the national electricity needs prior to the Russian invasion.

The plant has not produced electricity since September, when the last reactor of its six reactors was turned off.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's nuclear body Energoatom said Grossi would assess how the situation had changed at the PLTN, spoke with workers and also acted as a "guarantor" for the rotation of a group of IAEA monitors at the facility.

Previously, the IAEA had been placing observers at the PLTN since September, when Grossi traveled to the facility due to concerns about the possibility of an increasing nuclear accident.