The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned yesterday of the risk of a “serious nuclear accident” at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plantwhich is under the occupation of Russian troops in Ukraine due to the evacuation of residents of the neighboring city, where most of the workers live, and the “potentially dangerous” situation around the city.

“The situation around the Zaporozhye NPP is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous,” Rafael Grossi said in an IAEA statement.

“This large nuclear facility must be protected. I will continue to seek commitment from all parties to this critical goal, and the IAEA will continue to do everything possible to ensure the nuclear safety of the station,” he said.

Grossi said agency experts in the area are monitoring the situation closely to “identify any possible impact on nuclear security.”

The concern was shared by the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, who said on Telegram that the “evacuation” announced by the Russian authorities happened too quickly. According to him, long queues formed at the Tsongar checkpoint on the road connecting Melitopol with Crimea.

No evacuation of workers from the Russian-held nuclear power plant, whose six reactors have been disabled, is currently planned, Russian-appointed plant director Yuri Chernichuk said yesterday.

Evacuation of the population

On Friday, Yevgeny Balitsky, a Moscow-appointed regional official, announced a partial evacuation of 18 Russian-held communities in the Zaporozhye region, mostly in Energodar.

These “temporary” evacuations, according to Balitsky, primarily concern children with their parents, the elderly and people with disabilities, as well as hospital patients against the backdrop, according to him, of the escalation of Ukrainian shelling in recent days.

Russian authorities are planning to evacuate about 70,000 people from settlements in Russian-held Zaporizhzhia region, according to another occupying administration official Andriy Kozenko, quoted by the TASS news agency.

The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, controlled by the Russian military since March 2022, is located on the banks of the Dnieper, which separates two camps in the area. This is the target of many epidemics, which causes fear of destruction.

Source: AFP, APE-MPE.