IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in a statement on Friday said that “following repeated requests”, the agency’s expert team was given “unimpeded access” on Thursday afternoon to the rooftops of Unit 3 and Unit 4 reactor buildings at the Zaporizhzhia plant in Ukraine and “could also clearly view the rooftops of the turbine halls”.
Grossi said the expert team would continue its requests to visit the roofs of the other four reactor units at the facility.
On July 23, the IAEA experts stationed at the Zaporizhzhia plant spotted “directional anti-personnel mines on the periphery of the site”.
The IAEA chief said on Friday that experts confirmed “the mines first observed on July 23 were still in place” during an inspection on Aug. 1, but “no new mines or explosives were observed during any walk-downs over the past week”.
Grossi stressed the importance of the IAEA experts being granted timely access to all areas of the Zaporizhzhia plant, saying that “timely, independent and objective reporting of facts on the ground is crucial to continue the IAEA’s efforts to support nuclear safety and security”.
–IANS
int/sha
