Security still fragile at Zaporizhzhia N power plant, IAEA chief says

FE Team | Published: February 06, 2024 21:04:50

KYIV, Feb 06 (AP/Reuters): Security at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant remains fragile amid worrying recent staff cuts enacted by Russian authorities occupying the facility, which is one of the 10 biggest atomic power plants in the world, the United Nations nuclear watchdog chief said Tuesday.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi, who is in Kyiv, told The Associated Press that his upcoming visit to the plant as the war approaches its two-year milestone will aim to assess the impact of recent personnel reductions after Russia denied access to employees of Ukraine's Energoatom.
"This huge facility used to have around 12,000 staff. Now, this has been reduced to between 2,000 and 3,000, which is quite a steep reduction in the number of people working there," Grossi said. "To man, to operate these very sophisticated big installations you need a certain number of people performing different specific functions."
"So far the situation is stable, but it is a very, very delicate equilibrium," he said. "So this is why I need to see for myself what is the situation, what are the prospects in terms of staffing, medium-term and long-term as well."
The IAEA has repeatedly expressed alarm about the facility amid fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe. The plant has repeatedly been caught in the crossfire since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and seized the facility shortly after.
The plant's six reactors have been shut down for months, but it still needs power and qualified staff to operate crucial cooling systems and other safety features.
Russian attack
on Kharkiv kills
2-month-old baby
A Russian attack overnight on a village in the northeastern Ukrainian Kharkiv region killed a 2-month-old boy and injured his mother, the regional governor said on Tuesday.
Oleh Synehubov said on the Telegram messaging app that the body of the infant boy was recovered from the rubble of a three-storey hotel that Russian forces hit with missiles about 2:30 am.
Two other women were injured and were taken to a hospital with shrapnel wounds, Synehubov said. The National Police said more than 30 buildings, including private houses, a cafe, shops and private cars were damaged in the attack.