The Head Of Energotom Calls It Important To End The Population Of Russian Troops At PLTN Zaporizhia

Rafael Grossi's IAEA mission. (Wikimedia Commons/IAEA Imagebank)

JAKARTA - The head of Ukraine's state nuclear company said the mission by UN inspectors to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) was essential, to end Russia's occupation of the facility, calling for new missions to the site, including by UN peacekeepers.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is compiling a report after its inspectors crossed the front line last week to reach a threatened plant, with Russia and Ukraine accusing each other of firing, posing a nuclear disaster risk.

The two IAEA experts will stay indefinitely at Europe's largest nuclear generating facility, which was occupied by Russian forces in early March, shortly after their invasion.

In an interview, Petro Kotin, head of Energoatom told Reuters the establishment of a permanent mission was a 'good' move but the 'root of the problem' remained, as Russian forces took control of the site.

"We need the results of this mission actually. These results have to (solve) the whole situation: de-occupation. If not, then we have to have some kind of decent outcome", he said, reported Reuters on September 6.

IAEA mission in Ukraine. (Source: IAEA/F. Dahl)

He called the situation at the plant "extremely dangerous" and unprecedented, due to the breakdown of power lines connecting the facility to the Ukrainian grid, saying Kyiv hoped to hear more than an expression of concern from the IAEA.

"This is a strange situation. All the experts and (IAEA Head Rafael) Grossi himself understand what needs to be done is de-occupation. Still, they cannot immediately propose this because of the limited mandate", he said.

The IAEA describes its mission as being technical in nature.

Hours after Kotin spoke in his office in Kyiv, Energoatom said the sixth and last working reactor had been cut off from its grid, due to what it said was a Russian shelling. There was no immediate response from Russia.

Kotin said it would be difficult for Ukraine to pass this winter without the generator, which supplied more than a fifth of Ukraine's pre-war electricity needs.

"If you don't have the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, it will be a dangerous winter. We need it."

Ukraine itself has three other smaller nuclear power plants.

Kotin also proposed increasing the number of IAEA inspectors in nuclear plants.

"The presence of other international organizations, such as UN peacekeeping forces or other international missions from the European Union, will help provide an independent view of what is happening there, and eventually get these invaders out of the factory", he concluded.