Russia acknowledged blocking the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from accessing certain areas of Ukraine’s power plant, attributing it to safety concerns.
The IAEA officials have been monitoring the plant since September 2022, six months after it was seized by Moscow’s forces. Responding to the IAEA’s statement about being denied access to reactor halls, Renat Karchaa, an official at Russia’s Rosatom, claimed that they attempted to enter “containment shells.”
Karchaa emphasised that a containment shell, especially a sealed one, is not an area for casual visits or leisurely walks, rejecting any notion of it being treated like a museum.
“While in ‘sealed’ mode, personnel access to the containment shells is prohibited and is only permitted with unambiguous justification and in emergency cases,” he added.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi had said in a statement Wednesday that experts had not been allowed to access reactor halls in three of the plant’s units for two weeks.
He said the IAEA would continue to request access to the reactor halls, where the reactor core and spent fuel are located.
“The content of the latest statement gives us reason to assume that either Rafael Grossi was not informed fully enough, or the information was submitted by people with low professional training, which is hard to believe,” Karchaa said.
The plant stopped supplying electricity to Ukraine’s grid in September 2022, and has been repeatedly rocked by shelling and drone attacks throughout the conflict.
