Head of UN atomic watchdog travels to Russia for negotiations

The head of the UN nuclear safety agency has come to Russia to talk about keeping Ukraine‘s nuclear power plant safe during the fighting there.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is very worried about the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and is afraid of a possible nuclear disaster. The plant has been affected by fighting since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February. On January 24, 2022, they took control of the building not long after.

The plant’s six reactors are not working, but it still needs electricity and skilled workers to run important cooling systems and safety features.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, the leader of IAEA, went to the Sochi resort by the Black Sea on Tuesday evening, as reported by Russian news agency RIA Novosti. Grossi told everyone about the trip on Monday, at the start of a meeting with the agency’s 35-country board of governors in Vienna.

The Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will have a meeting with Grossi when he visits.

Grossi went to Ukraine in February, and went to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to help stop a nuclear accident while there is fighting. He also met with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The head of the IAEA last saw Putin in October 2022.

He said to the media in Vienna that it’s important to talk to both sides. He also said the situation with the Zaporizhzhia plant is still unstable.

Grossi said he planned to talk about “technical problems” concerning “how the plant will operate in the future” in Moscow. He also said that if the plant starts up again, he would need to talk about the safety checks that will be done. He also said he needs to talk about the problem of the power lines from outside because the IAEA thinks they are weak and delicate.

The plant lost power from outside sources eight times since it was taken over. This made it use emergency diesel generators, and it still has problems finding enough workers.