IAEA demands that Russian Federation provide access to engine rooms and roofs of ZNPP power units
Russia does not allow the IAEA mission to the roofs of Reactor Units 1, 2, 5, and 6 of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).
As reported by Censor.NET with reference to Interfax-Ukraine, this was reported by the general director of the agency, Rafael Grossi.
"In order to monitor compliance with the five (safety) principles, we must have full access," he said in another summary on the agency's website about the state of affairs at the ZNPP.
According to Grossi, the IAEA has also requested an inspection of all six engine rooms, one by one, to be able to fully assess the presence or absence of any items that may conflict with the five principles, but that request has not been granted so far.
It is noted that on September 8, IAEA experts visited the engine room of the 1st power unit, where they saw a total of fifteen vehicles, but did not see any heavy weapons.
In addition, they noted the continued presence of mines between the perimeter fences but did not find any additional mines during the sweep of the area.
The report also said that three months after the collapse of the downstream Kakhovka Dam, which depleted a huge reservoir used by the ZNPP to cool its reactors and spent fuel, the plant is continuing to expand access to other water sources, such as by drilling wells with groundwater. So far, seven such wells have been completed out of the planned 10-12.
The NPP informed the IAEA team that the seven active wells account for slightly more than half of the approximately 250 cubic meters of water per hour required to maintain the water level in the cooling ponds under conditions where all units remain off. The remaining volume of water is currently being pumped out of the site's drainage system.
The IAEA team reported that the ZNPP is performing maintenance on various components and safety systems at the facility, whose six reactors remain shut down: one in hot shutdown and the rest in cold shutdown.
