On 17 November 2022 IAEA Board of Governors adopted Resolution “The safety, security and safeguards implications of the situation in Ukraine” where noted with serious concern the IAEA Director General’s report on 10 November 2022, which described the situation at the Zaporizhzhya NPP as dangerous, precarious, and challenging including as a result of the relentless levels of stress and pressure on operating staff due to Russia’s attempts to take control of the facility.
Also this report pointed on repeated disruption of off-site power supply due to shelling and military activity following Russia’s seizure of the plant, and further underlined the IAEA Director General assessment that his ‘seven indispensable pillars for nuclear safety and security’ have been compromised by Russian invaders at the site at all times.
In November, 2022 Russia tried to block the discussion regarding this IAEA Report and adoption of this resolution, proposing as provocation, among other things, for IAEA to visit the nuclear facilities in the Russia-occupied Sevastopol.
But IAEA did not react on relevant aggressor’s provocations and in adopted resolution this UN agency welcomed the Director General’s assessment that the Agency has found no indications of undeclared nuclear activities or materials related to the development of radiological dispersal devices (“dirty bombs”) at three locations in Ukraine, following complementary accesses conducted at the request of Ukraine, in accordance with Ukraine’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol, in response to allegations made by Russian thereby showing these aggressor’s allegations to be unfounded.
As our Association wrote since spring 2022 the possibility of Russia’s nuclear provocations allegedly connected with “fuel from Zaporizhzhya NPP” were and remains too high so the above pointed aggressor’s speculation regarding “dirty bomb” were not too surprising.
Also the IAEA resolution deplored and did not recognize the Russia’s attempts to take ownership of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya NPP and its attempted illegal annexation of the Ukrainian territory on which the plant is located; IAEA called upon aggressor state to immediately abandon its baseless claims of ownership of the plant;
Also IAEA called in that resolution Russia to immediately withdraw its military and other personnel from the Zaporizhzhya NPP, in order for the competent Ukrainian authorities to regain full control of the plant to ensure its safe and secure operation, and in order for the IAEA to fully and safely conduct its safeguards verification activities, in accordance with Ukraine’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, entered into pursuant to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the IAEA Statute. Aggressor’s MFA couldn’t react on above-pointed IAEA demands by their matter, just mentioning lethargically the resolution as allegedly “unprofessionally drawn up”.
