Wed, 27 September 2023
The Daily Ittefaq

Ukraine updates: IAEA confirms mines near Zaporizhzhia plant

Update : 26 Jul 2023, 02:08

The IAEA said the mines were found in a restricted area that is inaccessible to plant personnel. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been under Russian control since the beginning of March 2022.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials have confirmed that there are mines in close proximity to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, currently under Russian occupation.

The IAEA Director General, Rafael Grossi, said in a statement that the IAEA team had discovered "some mines located in a buffer zone between the site's internal and external perimeter barriers" during an inspection conducted on Sunday, although the inspection team did not come across any devices "within the inner site perimeter."

The mines were found in a restricted area that is inaccessible to plant personnel, he said.

"Our team has raised this specific finding with the plant and they have been told that it is a military decision, and in an area controlled by military," Grossi said.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been under Russian control since the beginning of March 2022. Since September, all six of its reactors have been shut down.

The IAEA had still not been given access to the roofs of the reactor buildings and their turbine halls, its latest statement said.

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