The Austrian government on Wednesday called for an end to the “Russian roulette with the safety of nuclear power plants” in Ukraine and announced that it will support 1 million euros for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) missions in Ukraine, under attack from Russia, to ensure the safety of the country’s plants, EFE reports and Agerpres.

“Nuclear power plants in a war zone always pose a particular danger,” Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, a conservative, and the head of environmental protection, environmentalist Leonor Gevesler, said in a joint statement.

The statement emphasizes that from the very beginning, Russia’s “reckless actions in the immediate vicinity” of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, which has been under Russian control since March 2022, have jeopardized nuclear safety and posed a real threat to Europe.

The Austrian government believes that the presence of IAEA experts at all nuclear power plants in Ukraine is necessary in order to have information about the situation on the ground and, as far as possible, to avoid fighting near these installations.

As the IAEA’s host country, Austria, which does not have nuclear power plants, will support this presence in Ukraine with a contribution of 1 million euros.

The situation at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhya NPP causes “great concern” for Vienna

In the communique, Shallenberg notes that the breakthrough of the Kakhovskaya Dam (on the night of Monday to Tuesday) and its possible impact on the water supply of the plant in Zaporizhzhia “impressively demonstrates the importance” of the vigilance of international experts.

In particular, the situation at the Russian-controlled plant in Zaporizhzhia (south-eastern Ukraine) causes “great concern” for Vienna.

“Russian roulette with the safety of Ukrainian nuclear power plants must stop immediately,” the head of Austrian diplomacy emphasizes in the quoted document.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi of Argentina said on Twitter on Wednesday that he will travel to the Zaporizhzhia plant next week to personally supervise the rotation of experts stationed there, who will be replaced by a “reinforced” team.

These experts assured on Tuesday that, despite the serious drop in water levels after the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam, there is currently no “imminent risk” to the station’s safety.

Moscow and Kyiv blame each other for the destruction of the Novokakhovskaya HPP dam on the Dnieper River, which spilled after one of the dams burst.

___

• Follow the latest events of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HotNews.ro