The occupation of Zaporizhzhya NPP by russia, the non-admission of Ukrainian licensed personnel to the industrial site and the blocking of the automated radiation monitoring system (ASKRO) at ZNPP led to the fact that both Ukraine and the international nuclear community receive information about the state of nuclear safety and security at the nuclear power plant with a significant delay. Head of SNRIU - Chief State Inspector for Nuclear and Radiation Safety of Ukraine Oleh Korikov emphasised this during a meeting with IAEA Deputy Director General, Director of the Department of Nuclear and Physical Safety Lydie Evrard in Vienna (Austria) today.
“The presence of the IAEA permanent monitoring mission at Zaporizhzhya NPP is important for Ukraine and the international nuclear community, first of all, in terms of informing about the state of nuclear and radiation safety. We all understand that the Agency's experts collect information on the radiation situation at the nuclear power plant actually in manual mode. Due to the russian invaders' blocking of the ASKRO, Ukraine is now effectively deprived of the opportunity to comply with the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident”, said Oleh Korikov.
He added that this is happening against the background of other criminal actions of the russian occupiers. They continue to operate power unit 4 in hot shutdown, which contradicts the SNRIU licenses, which clearly define that all six ZNPP units should be operated only in cold shutdown. According to him, this significantly increases the threats to nuclear safety and security at ZNPP in the context of the loss of a reliable source of water supply (the Kakhovka reservoir disappeared as a result of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam by Russian terrorists on 6 June 2023), lack of stable power supply from the Ukrainian power grid (ZNPP has been blacked out 8 times during the occupation), lack of proper maintenance and repair of safety systems and safety-related equipment, and presence of illegitimate personnel at the industrial site.
The SNRIU Chairman also thanked the IAEA experts for the work of permanent monitoring missions at the industrial sites of nuclear power plants under the control of Ukraine. In her turn, Lydie Evrard expressed a number of proposals to improve the efficiency of these missions of the Agency and expand their functional responsibilities.