Information about the possible composition of the group has been published in the media. However, the IAEA says that it will not release information about those going to the nuclear power plant.
A team of experts from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, has begun its journey to Ukraine’s Zaporizhia power plant and is scheduled to arrive later this week, the head of the organization Rafael Grossi says on Twitter.
Exact information about the composition of the group is not given. The New York Times reported over the weekend that Grossi would be part of the 14-person delegation. According to the magazine, the other experts mostly belonged to so-called neutral countries. The organization did not confirm the information to the newspaper at the time.
Grossi himself hinted last week that he could lead the group.
CNN asked the IAEA about the delegation. The organization replied that it will not release information about the composition of the expert group to the public. The IAEA revealed to the channel that all positions in the organization have people from different member countries and that they are selected on the basis of essential competence. According to the organization, the participants represent the IAEA and not their home countries.
Marija Zaharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, says according to the news channel CNN, that Russia has not been specifically persuaded to allow the group into the nuclear power plant in its possession. He says he believes the group’s visit will happen.
Power plant on the brink of crisis
The safety of the nuclear power plant has raised international concern. The IAEA has long warned that the power plant is on the brink of crisis and reminded that the threat of a nuclear disaster is real.
According to CNN, the Ukrainian energy company Energoatom commented on the messaging service Telegram on Sunday about a possible serious nuclear accident. The company sees that if an accident were to happen on Monday, due to the predicted winds, the radiation would reach southern Ukraine and regions of southwestern Russia.
There are a total of six reactors in Zaporizhia, but recently only two of them have been in operation. The nuclear power plant is the largest in Europe.
Battles at a nuclear power plant
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was disconnected from the power grid on Thursday after the last high-voltage line that supplied electricity to the power plant broke. President of Ukraine to Volodymyr Zelensky according to the Russians, the reason for the high-voltage line breaking was grenade fire. However, Energoatom later announced that the power plant had been reconnected to the electricity grid.
The power plant needs external electricity for, among other things, cooling the reactors.
There have been battles in the vicinity of the power plant, and the power plant has been the target of Russian fire. Over the weekend, Russia and Ukraine repeatedly accused each other of firing at the power plant.