4:10 p.m. ET, October 28, 2022
UN nuclear watchdog frustrated by slow progress on protection zone for Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
From CNN’s Xiaofei Xu
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is seen from a distance in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Monday, October 17.
Leo Correa/AP
Progress at establishing a protection zone for Ukraine’s
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is going too slowly, according to
Rafael Grossi, the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency.
Grossi, who serves as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, added that he is "very frustrated."
“For me, establishing a protection zone around a nuclear power plant is as self-evident as anything can be. How can you shell a nuclear power plant for God’s sakes?” Grossi said at an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington Friday.
Russia, which controls the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, detained two staff members there on Oct. 17, which caused “great concern” for Grossi.
Some background: The plant is the largest nuclear power facility in Europe and has been
under Russian control since the beginning of the war, though it is still operated mostly by Ukrainian technicians.
Ukraine’s military alleged this month that plant employees are subjected to “moral and psychological pressure” to obtain Russian passports and sign employment contracts with Russia’s nuclear agency.
Grossi has repeatedly called for a nuclear safety zone around the plant “as soon as possible,” citing the threat that fighting over the facility could cause a nuclear accident.
It all comes at an increasingly fragile time for Ukraine's energy supply. In recent weeks, Russian missile and drone attacks have
targeted Ukraine’s power plants and electrical grid leading to rolling blackouts and water supply disruptions.
CNN's Olga Voitovych and Joshua Berlinger contributed to this report.