On Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced a new deployment of staff to assess the safety of facilities at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in northern Ukraine, while warning of military activity “very close” to the Zaporizhya plant, in the east of the country.
“The IAEA has deployed additional staff to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine this week to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the safety of the New Secure Confinement (NSC), which was damaged following the drone attack last February.”The organization announced in a statement, referring to the protective sarcophagus built around the reactor of the plant that was exposed to the nuclear disaster in 1986.
Thus, the entity reported that “although the February drone attack did not cause any release of radioactive material, it did cause significant structural damage, affecting the designed containment function of the National Security Center and its expected useful life.”
At the same time, the organization indicated that its members are in the center “Zaporizhia reported hearing military activity daily, often very close to the plant.”. “On some days, the team reported hearing explosions and gunshots about 20 times, sometimes more,” he warned.
In contrast, he noted that at Ukraine’s three operating nuclear power plants, those in Khmelnytskyi, Rivne and southern Ukraine, “electricity production has largely returned to normal following last week’s military attacks on the electrical grid,” with almost all units operating at “full capacity.”
However, the International Atomic Energy Agency has denounced the “continued attacks on the Ukrainian electricity grid,” a situation in which it will send a team to assess damage to “several critical substations.”
Russia confirmed today that it knows that Rafael Grossi, who was nominated by Argentina for the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations, highly values cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which he runs, but it did not advance its position on his nomination.
“We know Grossi well. We will see the situation from different points of view.”In his daily press conference, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to the question of whether Russia would support Grossi’s candidacy.
He added that Russia highly values the “experience of cooperation” with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“The cooperation has been constructive under very difficult circumstances in the context of Ukraine.”Peskov highlighted, referring to the situation of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, the largest in Europe, which has been controlled by Russian forces since March 2022.
The race for the position of UN Secretary-General will accelerate next year, in a process with different stages in which UN member states will be able to present their candidates.
The next Secretary-General of the United Nations will take office on January 1, 2027, and among the names heard loudly, in addition to Grossi, is former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.
The former Vice President of Costa Rica, Rebecca Greenspan, has already been nominated for this position by her country, while Ecuadorian Maria Fernanda Espinosa has been nominated; Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados; Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean; It appears that Jacinda Ardern, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, is also a candidate for the Secretariat position.
(With information from Europa Press and EFE)