The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report says there is an “urgent need for interim measures” to avoid a nuclear accident at the Zaporizhia plant.
Zaporizhzhia is a city in the southeast of Ukraine, where the largest nuclear power plant in Europe is located.
In a report released on September 6, following a mission to the nuclear plant, the IAEA says the current situation around the plant, which has been taken over by the Russian military, is “unsustainable and the best course of action to ensure the safety of nuclear facilities of Ukraine and its people would be for this armed conflict to end now.”
“Until the conflict ends and stable conditions are restored, there is an urgent need for interim measures to prevent a nuclear accident resulting from physical damage caused by military assets,” the report says.
“This can be achieved by the immediate creation of a protected nuclear safety zone.”
The IAEA says it is ready to “immediately” begin consultations leading to the “urgent establishment” of this zone. The report of the International Atomic Energy Agency comes after a mission of this agency visited Zaporizhzhia last week.
On September 6, all six Zaporizhia reactors were shut down after shelling near the nuclear power plant. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russian troops for the artillery attacks.
But both sides have repeatedly blamed each other for threats to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which has been seized by Russian forces shortly after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.