Deputy Foreign Minister Vershinin said that Moscow is discussing with the IAEA the security zone around the NPPMOSCOW, Nov 17 - RIA Novosti.
It is necessary to agree on the creation of a security zone around the Zaporozhye NPP as soon as possible, Moscow is in contact with the IAEA on this issue, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
"Negotiations are continuing on the creation of a zone of protection of operational and physical nuclear safety around the Zaporozhye NPP. We are in close contact with the IAEA secretariat and personally with the agency's Director General Rafael Grossi on this issue. We share his opinion that it should be done as soon as possible," Vershinin said.
"In turn, as far as we know, the leadership of the agency's secretariat is in dialogue with Kiev. We are making every effort depending on us to reach this agreement," the Deputy minister added.
According to him, "regarding the presence of UN experts at the EAEU, the question has never been raised."
"Monitoring the implementation of the agreements on the "zone", if they are reached, is supposed to be carried out by representatives of the IAEA, who, by the way, are already doing this now, since they have been at the station on a permanent basis since the beginning of September. Currently, four specialists from the agency's secretariat are present at the NPP, who have access to all facilities on its territory, and they have the opportunity to promptly report on everything that is happening at the NPP," Vershinin added.
Zaporizhia NPP is located on the left bank of the Dnieper River near the town of Energodar. This is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe in terms of the number of units and installed capacity – the station has six power units with a capacity of 1 gigawatt. Since March, she has been under the protection of the Russian military. The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that this step is justified in order to avoid preventing leaks of nuclear and radioactive materials. The Ukrainian military continue to regularly shell Energodar and the territory of the Zaporozhye NPP adjacent to the city.
In early September, an IAEA mission headed by Grossi arrived at the NPP. The head of the Rosatom delegation and the employees of the NPP demonstrated to the arrivals the sections of the station affected by the shelling of Ukrainian troops. Since then, the IAEA experts have been at the station, in early November, during the next rotation, their number was increased to four people. Following the results of the mission's visit, a report was published in which the IAEA confirmed the fact of the shelling of the NPP. Grossi made a proposal to create a nuclear safety and protection zone around the plant, this proposal was discussed during Grossi's visits to Moscow and Kiev.
