IAEA does not plan permanent mission at Kursk NPP
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi (photo: Getty Images)
The head of the UN nuclear agency, Rafael Grossi, stated that the situation surrounding the Russian Kursk Nuclear Power Plant remains serious, but the agency does not plan to establish a permanent mission at the site, according to Grossi's comments in an interview with RIA Novosti.
Ukrainian forces are positioned in the southern Kursk region, approximately 40 kilometers from the facility.
“(The situation) is serious in that a military incursion has taken place and that incursion has reached the stage that it is not that distant from a nuclear power station,” Grossi stated.
Last month, he visited the Kursk facility and noted that it would be extremely affected if it were attacked, as the installation lacks a containment dome.
According to Grossi, the IAEA does not plan to permanently station observers at the plant, unlike the four Ukrainian plants, including the Zaporizhzhia facility, which was captured by Russian forces at the beginning of the invasion.
Russian officials attempted to use Grossi’s visit to the Kursk nuclear power plant to falsely present Ukraine as a threat of a radiation incident, which they believed would undermine Western support for Ukraine.
